一个鲜为人知的政府机构拒绝承认乔·拜登的选举胜利，这阻碍了当选总统的能力为就职做准备专家称之为国家安全中的“危险漏洞”权力转移。
印第安纳州前民主党国会议员李·汉密尔顿(Lee Hamilton)研究了这个问题，他说:“减少过渡中的中断，并努力使之顺利进行，这符合我们的国家利益。”“过渡时期是一个潜在危险和国家风险增加的时期……我们的对手知道这一点。”
总务管理局尚未正式“确定”获胜者，这使得拜登和他的顾问无法获得旨在确保平稳过渡的关键资源，包括机密情报简报和建立新领导层的日常工作。
周一，国家情报局局长办公室表示，在安全总局正式宣布之前，它“不会与拜登的过渡团队接触”，也不会批准当选总统的简报宣布他获胜。
在过去的选举周期中，美国总务管理局的确定是许多敷衍步骤之一，以确保政府从一届政府到下一届政府的连续性。然而，今年，美国总务管理局在等待官方投票认证或总统让步之前保留了这一关键声明唐纳德·特朗普。
前官员说，但现在犹豫不决威胁到美国人的安全。
大卫·普里斯(David Priess)是一名前情报简报者，也是《总统的秘密之书:给美国总统的情报简报的未披露故事》的作者。他说，这些机密情报简报对于即将上任的领导人准备在就职日掌权至关重要。
普里斯说:“想象一下，当选总统在就职日就职，在最坏的情况下，突然面临多重外交政策危机。”“在过渡时期拥有这段时间……对于最有效地启动国家安全非常有价值。”
美国总务管理局不予批准，也剥夺了拜登阵营组建新领导人团队所需的资源——即使在最好的情况下，这也是一项巨大而繁琐的官僚努力。美国总务管理局的长期拖延可能会阻碍新官员获得安全审查、政府电子邮件地址和办公空间。
本周早些时候，美国总务管理局引用了2000年总统竞选作为“先例”，来为其犹豫是否接受获胜者进行辩护。随着布什诉戈尔案在法庭上获得通过，有效地将过渡期缩短了一半，总务管理局拒绝参与任何一场竞选。
周二，国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥他还提到了2000年的选举先例，以支持他对接受拜登为获胜者的犹豫，他告诉记者，即使在压缩的时间框架内，政府也设法执行了“成功的过渡”。
专家们对这种比较的使用提出质疑。周一，2000年美国总务管理局局长大卫·巴兰(David Barram)表示，当时的情况“截然不同”，他指出，在那次选举中，两个候选人在一个州的票数相差无几。
但是提到2000年的过渡还是引起了前国家安全官员的注意。
9.11恐怖袭击多年后，9.11委员会报告的作者认为，乔治·布什就职前的压缩过渡时间表“阻碍了新政府在确定、招募、清理和获得参议院对关键任命者的确认方面的工作。”
汉密尔顿是9/11委员会报告的合著者之一，他周三表示，这些延误给应对袭击带来了挑战，而未能解决这些延误会在“美国的安全态势中打开危险的缺口”。
作为前立法者，汉密尔顿也注意到了国会在确保富有成效的过渡中的监督作用。自从拜登被宣布获胜以来，共和党人在很大程度上支持唐纳德·特朗普总统拒绝让步。但一些人鼓励总务管理局开始拜登的权力交接过程，而不直接削弱总统对投票的零星法律挑战。
“我们需要有应急措施，”森说马尔科·卢比奥佛罗里达州共和党人告诉彭博新闻。“我不认为允许总务管理局推进一些过渡工作会以任何方式损害总统打算提出的任何法律主张。”
众议院情报委员会(House Intelligence Committee)前共和党高级官员迈克罗杰斯(Mike Rogers)呼吁美国民主党全国委员会(ODNI)让拜登(Biden)和他的助手参加情报简报会，指出“我们的对手不会等待过渡发生。”
“从今天开始，(拜登)应该会收到总统每日简报(PDB)。”罗杰斯在推特上写道。“他需要知道最新的威胁是什么&并开始相应的计划。这与政治无关;这关系到国家安全。”
就拜登竞选团队而言，他们似乎没有被这些拖延所困扰。周二，当选总统表示，他的过渡团队正在推进明年1月掌权的计划，称特朗普拒绝让步是“尴尬”。
拜登说:“坦率地说，我们认为没有什么会减缓我们的速度。”。
Trump refusal to ease Biden transition opens ‘dangerous gaps’ in nation’s security: Experts
The refusal of a little-known government agency to acknowledge Joe Biden's election victory is stalling the president-elect's ability toprepare for taking office, and opening what experts called "dangerous gaps" in the nation's security heading into thetransfer of power.
"It is deeply in our national interest to reduce the disruptions in a transition and try to make this go smoothly," said Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana who has studied the issue. "The transition is a period of potential danger and increased risk to the country … and our adversaries know that."
The General Services Administration has yet to officially "ascertain" a winner, leaving Biden and his advisers without access to crucial resources meant to ensure a smooth transition -- including classified intelligence briefings and the mundane work of installing a new slate of leadership.
On Monday, the Office of Director of National Intelligence said it "would not have contact" with Biden's transition team or grant the president-elect briefings until the GSA officiallydeclares him the winner.
In election cycles past, the GSA ascertainment is one of many perfunctory steps to ensure the continuity of government from one administration to the next. This year, however, the GSA has withheld this key declaration pending official vote certifications or a concession from PresidentDonald Trump.
But its hesitance to do so now threatens the safety of Americans, former officials said.
David Priess, a former intelligence briefer and author of "The President's Book of Secrets: The Untold Story of Intelligence Briefings to America's Presidents," said these classified intelligence briefings are crucial for incoming leaders to be prepared to take power on Inauguration Day.
"Imagine a situation where a president-elect takes office on Inauguration Day and suddenly being confronted with, in the worst-case scenario, multiple foreign policy crises at once," Priess said. "Having that time during the transition … is immensely valuable for starting off most effectively for national security."
By withholding its stamp of approval, the GSA is also depriving the Biden camp of resources needed to install a new team of leaders -- a massive and cumbersome bureaucratic effort even under the best of circumstances. A prolonged delay from the GSA could hinder incoming officials from acquiring security clearances, government email addresses, and office space.
Earlier this week the GSA cited the contested 2000 presidential election as "prior precedent" to justify its hesitance to accept a winner. As Bush v. Gore made its way through the courts -- effectively cutting the transition period in half -- the GSA declined to engage either campaign.
On Tuesday, Secretary of StateMike Pompeoalso mentioned the 2000 election precedent to support his hesitance to accept Biden as the winner, telling reporters that the government managed to execute a "successful transition back then" even under a compressed timeframe.
Experts dispute the use of that comparison. On Monday, David Barram, the GSA administrator in 2000, said the circumstances then were "dramatically different," citing a razor thin margin of votes separating the two candidates in a single state in that election.
But mentions of the 2000 transition have nonetheless caught the attention of former national security officials.
Years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the authors of the 9/11 Commission Report determined that the compressed transition timeframe ahead of George W. Bush's inauguration "hampered the new administration in identifying, recruiting, clearing, and obtaining Senate confirmation of key appointees."
Hamilton, who co-authored the 9/11 Commission Report, said Wednesday that those delays contributed to challenges in responding to the attacks and failure address those delays opens up "dangerous gaps in the security posture of the United States."
A former legislator, Hamilton also took note of the oversight role of Congress in ensuring a productive transition. In the days since Biden was declared winner, Republicans have largely fallen in line behind President Donald Trump's refusal to concede. But some have encouraged the GSA to begin the process of transitioning Biden into power -- without directly undercutting the president's scattershot of legal challenges to the vote.
"We need to have that contingency in place," Sen.Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told Bloomberg News. "I don't think allowing the GSA to move forward on some of the transition work prejudices in any way any of the legal claims the president intends to make."
Mike Rogers, the former ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, called on the ODNI to engage Biden and his aides for intelligence briefings, noting that "our adversaries aren't waiting for the transition to take place."
"(Biden) should receive the President's Daily Brief (PDB) starting today," Rogers wrote on Twitter. "He needs to know what the latest threats are & begin to plan accordingly. This isn't about politics; this is about national security."
For its part, the Biden campaign seems unperturbed by these delays. On Tuesday, the president-elect said his transition team is forging ahead with plans to take power in January, calling Trump's refusal to concede an "embarrassment."
"We don't see anything as slowing us down, quite frankly," Biden said.
