Intel Agencies, Trump ‘Took Too Long’ To Track Early Covid Spread: House Report
A House Intelligence Committee report says that an unprepared U.S. intelligence community did not start gathering information quickly enough in the early days of covid infections. And once they did, then-President Donald Trump downplayed the "increasingly stark warnings" about the emerging danger. Those delays likely led to missed opportunities to investigate the virus' origins.
The Washington Post:
Trump Downplayed Drumbeat Of Intelligence Warnings On Covid, Report Finds
Beginning in late January 2020, U.S. intelligence agencies reported to senior Trump administration officials that the coronavirus spreading in China threatened to become a pandemic and spark a global health crisis. But then-President Trump’s public statements over the next two months “did not reflect the increasingly stark warnings coursing through intelligence channels,” including the president’s daily brief, available to Trump and senior members of his administration, according to a report issued Thursday by the House Intelligence Committee. (Harris, 12/15)
Politico:
Report: Intelligence Agencies Didn’t Move Fast Enough To Collect Covid Data
The intelligence community was not prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic and did not move quickly enough to gather information about the spread of the virus, according to a report released Thursday by Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee. The report looks at the intelligence community’s response to Covid-19, particularly in the early days of 2020. The intelligence agencies’ clandestine collectors largely focused on analyzing data about the virus that was already being discussed openly by public health officials and experts across the world, the report said, arguing that they moved too slowly to collect clandestine information. (Banco, 12/15)
CNN:
Covid-19 US Intel Agencies Likely Missed Chances To Investigate Covid Pandemic's Origin, House Democrats' Report Says
Democratic investigators on the House Intelligence Committee have alleged that US intelligence agencies may have lost a critical opportunity to gather useful information on the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins by failing to pivot its collection resources earlier. (Lillis, 12/15)
NBC News:
U.S. Should've Spied On Chinese Health Officials Who Were Hiding What They Knew About Covid, Congress Says
U.S. intelligence agencies began warning that Covid-19 could become a pandemic just weeks after the coronavirus was first reported in China, but they missed an opportunity to better understand its spread because they didn’t quickly begin spying on Chinese health officials who were hiding what they knew, says a newly declassified report by the House Intelligence Committee. (Dilanian, 12/15)
