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ABC News: US Intelligence warned of contagion in China since November

2020-04-08T21:48:42.556Z


US intelligence officials have warned since late November that the new coronavirus was spreading in China's Wuhan region and that it posed a threat to s ...


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Trump ignored warnings about covid-19 1:28 in January

(CNN) - US intelligence officials have warned since late November that the new coronavirus was spreading in China's Wuhan region and that it posed a threat to its inhabitants and daily life, according to ABC News.

The U.S. Army National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI) compiled an intelligence report in November in which "analysts concluded this could be a catastrophic event," one of the sources in the NCMI report told ABC News.

  • READ: Senior Trump administration officials said last year that the threat of a pandemic worried them

The source also told the media that the report was later exposed "multiple times" to the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Pentagon and the White House.

Briefings throughout the United States government, including the National Security Council, were held repeatedly throughout December, culminating in a detailed summary of the threat in the president's daily report in early January, according to ABC News, whose The report cited four informed sources on the matter.

The report, which CNN has been unable to independently verify, raised concerns about the potential threat of the disease to US military forces in Asia, ABC News reported.

CNN is seeking a response from the White House National Security Council and the Pentagon. Both the Pentagon, the National Intelligence Directorate and the White House National Security Council declined to comment for ABC News.

How Trump changed his stance on the coronavirus 3:24

The Donald Trump government has faced multiple criticisms for not responding quickly enough to contain the new coronavirus in the United States, a country that now has the highest number of confirmed cases worldwide. The intelligence report is the latest indication that the Trump administration received a prior warning to the virus long before the first case in the US was confirmed. at the end of January. It also further undermines the president's claims that the crisis was an unforeseen and unexpected problem.

United States Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Sunday that he could not recall whether the Pentagon received an intelligence assessment of the new coronavirus in China last November from the NCMI, which provides medical intelligence to the Defense Department about foreign threats and health capabilities.

"But we have a lot of people watching this closely. We have the leading infectious disease research institute in the United States, within the Army. So, our people who work on these issues directly observe this all the time, "Esper said Sunday during an interview on ABC News'" This Week ".

  • LOOK: Biden describes what he said in his phone call with Trump about the response to the coronavirus

When George Stephanopoulos of ABC pressed him further on whether he knew there was a briefing for the National Security Council, Esper replied that he was unaware.

"Yes, I am not aware of that ... We have to be prepared for any type of contingency or any type of war environment in which we may be operating. That is why we are prepared and ready to support the entire government effort, "he replied.

Trump has repeatedly praised his administration's efforts to curb the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S., noting his Jan. 31 decision to restrict travel from China. But, the president initially downplayed the severity of covid-19 and has repeatedly insisted that no one predicted a pandemic crisis like the one caused by the coronavirus.

"No one knew there would be a pandemic or an epidemic of this proportion," Trump said March 19 at the White House.

Trump and the coronavirus: promises and realities 3:05

But The Washington Post reported that Trump and Congress ignored reports by U.S. intelligence agencies as of January, which warned of the scale and intensity of the coronavirus outbreak in China. And Trump's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, internally alerted in a memo in late January that the coronavirus could become a "full-blown pandemic," risking the health of millions and billions of dollars in economic losses, CNN previously reported.

Navarro warned in a second memo, less than a month later, that the risk of a pandemic was increasing and urged the White House coronavirus task force to secure billions in additional spending. Both notes were first reported by The New York Times and Axios.

Jeremy Diamond, Chandelis Duster, Maegan Vazquez and Caroline Kelly, all from CNN, contributed to this report.

covid-19intelligence report

Source: cnnespanol

All news articles on 2020-04-08

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