we have kylie atwood with more. >> reporter: i'm kylie atwood.istration plans to carry out its hard line policies over the last few months of its administration. the new acting secretary of defense has been told to focus on cyber and warfare particularly with china. china hawks in the trump administration believe this might be a way to box in the biden team on china. because if they roll back these policies, they may be viewed as being easy on china or appeasing china. president-elect biden has said he will work on competing with china, but he also said in places where necessary, they will work with china, issues such as north korea and climate change. >> kylie atwood, thank you so much. as we await word for president-elect joe biden and vice president-elect kamala harris, i want to talk to julie on what we're hearing today. julie chatterley, we expect to hear from biden today. what are you hearing? >> that is the hard way of recovering economic support and the millions of jobs we've lost. what's important is the number of people he's surrounded

>> kylie atwood, thank you. president-elect biden is expected to make history.hristin christi christiristina alesci is here t us why. >> biden has whittled down the list to janet yellin or late brainard. both would be the first woman treasury secretary. both of them women have worked at the highest levels of economy policymakes, with similar views on policies like interest rate these two women have supported easy money policies but they would differ from him in important ways. on banks regulation, for example, and on helping cities and states with additional funding through this very different period during the pandem pandem pandemic. >> cristina, thank you. >>> max, the former defense secretary matt is called on joe biden to strip all reference to say "america first" from america's strategy, which would be dumping a key mantra of donald trump. if i can read this, he wrote this in "foreign affairs" -- in january when they begin to reevaluate the policy, we hope they -- to eliminate america first from its contends, restoring in its place the commitment to -- >> g

. >> i'm kylie atwood at the state department. people are outraged after secretary pompeo's comments when he was asked about working with the biden transition at the state department he said a smooth transition to the trump administration. democrats called that incredibly scary for him to say. some told me they felt sick to their stomach after hearing those comments. others were angered because he thought appeared to undermine their world. around the world, they work to advocate for free and fair elections. they encourage world leaders not to challenge the results of elections if they were the result of a democratic process. that is precisely what president trump is doing now with the backing of america's top diplomat. >> i'm vivian in washington. president trump and allies lodging officials across government and burrowing in agencies in a way that could complicate the transition process or make it hard to have them removed when president-elect joe biden takes office next year. already since the election, more than half a dozen se

here's kylie atwood. >> reporter: joe biden's pick for secretary of state, tony blinken, has been partf his brain trust for almost 20 years. >> president-elect biden, having you as a mentor and friend has been the greatest privilege of my life. >> reporter: during the obama administration, he was in the room for major policy decisions. he served as the deputy national security adviser and the deputy secretary of state. blinken grew up in paris and new york. his world view formed by his stepfather who survived the holocaust. and his blood father. he is a proponent of international cooperation. key qualities as the biden administration sets out to revive alliances. critics say those relationships were ignored and ransacked over the last four years by the trump administration. >> if we know our sacrifices at home, if we align around the world, that lets us act more effectively in certain challenges. >> reporter: the biden team says they will put america back at the table. >> as the president-elect said, we can't solve all the world's problems alone. we need to be working with other countr

let's get to our kylie atwood who joins us at the state department. good morning. the state department is still blocking president-elect biden from getting messages from world leaders. why? >> yeah, i mean, jim and poppy, this is pretty extraordinary. traditionally the state department operations center sets up phone calls for the president-elect with world leaders, this he provide translation when necessary. that is not happening right now. just to be really clear about what is happening, it means world leaders who believe that they should be reaching out to the state department to get in touch with the president-elect are doing so, but their messages are not being responded to. they're not being received by president-elect joe biden. essentially he is a mailbox full of messages here at the state department that he cannot access. of course, that is because president trump hasn't recognized the victory of joe biden and the gsa also hasn't officially recognized that he won the presidential election, but i am told that the biden team would of course prefer to be usin

bring in cnn national security colonel kylie atwood at the state department. wrap do y what do you see going on here? this is extraordinary for the secretary of state to say this. >> reporter: it is truly extraordinary. especially because we know it's virtually statistically impossible for what he's saying to become a reality. he said there will be a smooth transition to a second trump administration. we full well know that there should be a transition under way to a biden administration right now. and it's important to note, brianna, there are national security implications here. this is a department having to turn over a tremendous amount of information to an incoming team and they're prevented from doing that right now. it's important to note the secretary was asked about the credibility of america continuing to call for free and fair elections internationally, and to call for people to step down and accept the realities of votes in other countries, and he was asked if those efforts are undermined by what president trump is doing here. contesting election r

"outfront" now at the state department, our national security correspondent kylie atwood, how unprecedented this to be blocking these messages? >> erin, traditionally the state department operations center is the one that facilitates phone calls between foreign leaders and the president-elect in the united states. they set them up, provide translation if necessary. that is not happening here. so, what is happening just to paint a picture for you is that foreign leaders who traditionally call into the state department, send messages to the state department because that is a place that normally is able to get them in touch with the president-elect of the united states. they're sending those messages and going nowhere. they're here at the state department. they are not being received by president-elect joe biden. and of course that is because president trump has not accepted -- >> and obviously it looks like we lost the shot. but, you know, she's saying because president trump refuses to acknowledge it, not allowing those messages to go ahead they're blocking the transitions. his actions are t