Exclusive:
The Military Knew Years Ago That a Coronavirus Was
Coming
The Pentagon warned the White House about a shortage
of ventilators, face masks and hospital beds in
2017—but the Trump administration did nothing.
By Ken Klippenstein
April 01, 2020
"Information
Clearing House"
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Despite President
Trump’s
repeated assertions that the Covid-19 epidemic was
“unforeseen” and “came out of nowhere,” the Pentagon was
well aware of not just the threat of a novel influenza,
but even anticipated the consequent scarcity of
ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds, according to
a
2017 Pentagon plan obtained by The Nation.
“The most likely and significant threat [enemy] is a
novel respiratory disease, particularly a novel
influenza disease,” the military plan states. Covid-19
is a respiratory disease caused by the novel (meaning
new to humans) coronavirus. The document specifically
references coronavirus on several occasions, in one
instant saying, “Coronavirus infections [are] common
around the world.”
The plan represents an update to an earlier
Department of Defense pandemic influenza response plan,
noting that it “incorporates insights from several
recent outbreaks including…2012 Middle Eastern
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.”
Titled “USNORTHCOM Branch Plan 3560: Pandemic
Influenza and Infectious Disease Response,” the
draft plan is marked
for official use
only and dated January 6, 2017. The plan was
provided to The Nation by a Pentagon official
who requested anonymity to avoid professional reprisal.
Denis Kaufman, who served as head of the Infectious
Diseases and Countermeasures Division at the Defense
Intelligence Agency from 2014 to 2017, stressed that US
intelligence had been well-aware of the dangers of
coronaviruses for years. (Kaufman retired from his
decades-long career in the military in December of
2017.)
“The Intelligence Community has warned about the
threat from highly pathogenic influenza viruses for two
decades at least. They have warned about coronaviruses
for at least five years,” Kaufman explained in an
interview.
“There have been recent pronouncements that the
coronavirus pandemic represents an intelligence
failure…. it’s letting people who ignored intelligence
warnings off the hook.”
In addition to anticipating the coronavirus pandemic,
the military plan predicted with uncanny accuracy many
of the medical supply shortages that it now appears will
soon cause untold deaths.
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