Kash Patel, recently installed Trump loyalist, now leading Pentagon transition

Stewart was leading the transition effort before she left the Pentagon, so it was expected that Patel would take over those responsibilities.

Patel previously worked for Rep. Devin Nunes (R.Calif.), the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, and as a staffer played a key role in helping Republicans discredit the Russia probe.

He also held a number of roles in the Trump administration, including on the National Security Council staff, in the office of former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, and most recently as a top White House counterterrorism official.

Other personnel moves: Tom Muir, the director of Washington Headquarters Services, will be the agency transition director, the Defense Department transition task force lead and the senior career executive for transition, the spokesperson said.

On the Biden team: Kathleen Hicks, a senior vice president at the center for Strategic and International Studies, is leading a group of more than two dozen people handling the Defense Department transition for the Biden team.