Governor notes transition worry, says Biden should receive security briefings.
'Gov. Asa Hutchinson expressed some worries about the transition from a Donald Trump presidency to a Joe Biden presidency, but they didn't have to do with vote-counting or polarization.
The Republican governor said he doesn't want to see Biden's team frozen out of national security discussions, citing the 2000 election as an example. . .
Hutchinson, who once served as an undersecretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security under Bush, said he recognized Trump's "continued legitimate legal challenges," but that preparations for a Biden presidency should still move forward, particularly when it comes to the matter of safeguarding the nation.
"Bush didn't have adequate time to get his national security team and all the people in place," Hutchinson said. "That just alerts you to the challenge that we face."
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark, who from 1997 to 2000 served as supreme allied commander in Europe and is now a resident of Little Rock, said Hutchinson's comments were valid.
"I think that it's important to go through the transition process," said Clark, who ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004. "The court decisions can play out as they will, but the transition process is important because you don't know how long the court decisions will take. These are matters of national security.
"Biden's team needs to know all of the most current intelligence that could lead to a crisis after the inauguration," Clark said. "There will be questions like, 'Did you know this was happening? Did you know they were about to have a coup here or that terrorists were coming into here?' Our adversaries don't go through this every four years. They have the same people working against us for decades in Russia, China and North Korea ... and Iran."'
National security concerns have long challenged U.S. presidents during the transitions between administrations.
https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2020/nov/12/governor-notes-transition-worry/
