President-elect Donald J. Trump met with President Biden in the Oval Office this month to discuss the transition.
Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump Team Signs Transition Agreement but Shuns F.B.I. Clearances

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s team will have some formal briefings with outgoing staff members, but it has so far refused to allow the F.B.I. to do security clearances for transition members.

by · NY Times

President-elect Donald J. Trump’s team has signed a transition agreement with the White House that will allow them to begin formal briefings with outgoing staff members in agencies across the government, Mr. Trump’s chief of staff said on Tuesday evening.

But Mr. Trump’s team has so far refused to sign an agreement with the Justice Department to allow the F.B.I. to do security clearances for transition members. Without that, Biden administration officials will be unable to share classified information with many of Mr. Trump’s transition aides.

The Trump team is also refusing to sign an agreement with the General Services Administration that usually provides secure office space, government email accounts and other support. White House officials said that would make sharing information with Mr. Trump’s officials more difficult over the next two months.

In recent decades, incoming presidents have signed agreements with their predecessors to smooth the transition of power. The goal is to ensure that the new administration is ready to take over on Jan. 20 and that its officials adhere to basic ethical standards.

Susie Wiles, who will serve as Mr. Trump’s top staff member in the White House, said in a statement that the president-elect had directed that his team sign the traditional memorandum of understanding so that the process of information sharing between the outgoing and incoming administrations could begin.

“This engagement allows our intended cabinet nominees to begin critical preparations, including the deployment of landing teams to every department and agency, and complete the orderly transition of power,” Ms. Wiles said in the statement.

White House officials expressed concern over the past two weeks that Mr. Trump’s advisers had not yet signed the agreement, which is usually done soon after the winner of a presidential election is declared. Aides to Mr. Biden said they stood ready to brief the incoming officials once the agreement is signed.

Saloni Sharma, a White House spokeswoman, said Mr. Biden and his top aides were pleased that Mr. Trump’s transition team had agreed to sign the agreement.

“President-elect Trump and his team will be in seat on Jan. 20 at 12 p.m. — and they will immediately be responsible for a range of domestic and global challenges, foreseen and unforeseen,” she said. “A smooth transition is critical to the safety and security of the American people who are counting on their leaders to be responsible and prepared.”

Ms. Wiles indicated in her statement that Mr. Trump had waited to enter into the agreement until almost all of his top appointments and nominations to senior level positions had been made. As of Tuesday, she said, Mr. Trump had completed “the selection process of his incoming cabinet.”

Mr. Trump’s transition team said Tuesday that as part of the agreement, Biden administration officials would begin setting up briefings for their counterparts and for so-called “landing teams” made of up Trump transition officials designated for each agency.

The names of the members of each landing team will be disclosed to the Biden administration and those people will be integrated “directly into federal agencies and departments with access to documents and policy sharing,” according to the statement by Ms. Wiles.

She also said that under the agreement, Mr. Trump’s transition team would post an ethics policy for transition officials on the G.S.A. website.

Mr. Biden and his aides have repeatedly promised to work with Mr. Trump’s officials to ensure a smooth transfer of power. Mr. Biden spoke to Mr. Trump following the election.

“I assured him that I would direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition,” Mr. Biden said in a speech in the Rose Garden on Nov. 7. “That’s what the American people deserve.”

Ms. Wiles said that the Trump transition team did not intend to sign the G.S.A. agreement because Mr. Trump wanted his transition officials to “operate as a self-sufficient organization. This organizational autonomy means a streamlined process that guarantees the Trump Administration is ready on Day 1.”

She said that declining to sign the G.S.A. agreement meant that the transition would be saving taxpayers money, and she pledged that the transition would not accept donations from foreign sources.

“The transition already has existing security and information protections built in, which means we will not require additional government and bureaucratic oversight,” she added.

But White House officials said the decision by the Trump transition team not to accept office space and government technology meant that it would be more difficult to share information with them. Biden administration officials are being instructed to find alternate ways to share information that are still secure, officials said.

That could involve providing briefings only in person or offering reading rooms in agency spaces that are secure. It may also mean that Biden administration officials who want to share unclassified electronic information may require Mr. Trump’s officials to certify that their nongovernment technology meets certain standards.

Trump transition officials did not respond to questions about whether they intended to sign the agreement with the Justice Department. White House officials said that if they did not, classified information would not be shared with transition officials who do not already have security clearances.

Trump Transition: News and Analysis