US Intelligence Warned About COVID-19 Since January, but Trump Ignored It

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] U.S. intelligence agencies have been criticized for warning about the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States since January of this year. It is said that President Donald Trump failed to respond appropriately for about two months after receiving the reports.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On the 21st (local time), The Washington Post (WP) reported this citing intelligence officials. According to the report, multiple intelligence briefings included information about COVID-19 in the daily reports and summaries from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). These reports were submitted not only to the administration but also to Congress.

There are also reports that analysis work was conducted to prepare for a COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., centered around Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Acting Chief of Staff Mulvaney was concerned that COVID-19 could negatively affect President Trump's reelection and disrupt Americans' lives for months. However, President Trump reportedly ignored and did not believe the early predictions that COVID-19 would spread across the United States.

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar spoke with President Trump about COVID-19 on January 18, but the President instead showed interest in electronic cigarettes.

Despite criticisms about insufficient testing capacity in the U.S., President Trump maintained the view that a large-scale outbreak would not occur domestically.

On the 26th of last month, Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases under the CDC, raised the possibility of community spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., but President Trump expressed dissatisfaction with this, saying it would scare the stock market.

The point at which President Trump reportedly fully changed his approach to responding to COVID-19 was after seeing the stock market collapse and statistical models of COVID-19 spread. By this time, community transmission had already significantly occurred in the United States.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.