Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Purposefully Exposing Someone To Coronavirus Could Bring Criminal Charges, Justice Department Warns
Politico: Those Who Intentionally Spread Coronavirus Could Be Charged As Terrorists
People who intentionally spread the coronavirus could face criminal charges under federal terrorism laws, the Justice Department’s No. 2 official said Tuesday. In a memo to top Justice Department leaders, law enforcement agency chiefs and U.S. Attorneys across the country, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said prosecutors and investigators could come across cases of “purposeful exposure and infection of others with COVID-19.” (Gerstein, 3/24)
ABC News: Homeland Security Warns Terrorists May Exploit COVID-19 Pandemic
A Department of Homeland Security memo sent to law enforcement officials around the country warns that violent extremists could seek to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by carrying out attacks against the U.S. "Violent extremists probably are seeking to exploit public fears associated with the spread of COVID-19 to incite violence, intimidate targets and promote their ideologies, and we assess these efforts will intensify in the coming months," according to the intelligence bulletin, compiled by the agency's Counterterrorism Mission Center and Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office. (Mallin and Margolin, 3/24)
In news from other agencies —
Politico: DHS Wound Down Pandemic Models Before Coronavirus Struck
The Department of Homeland Security stopped updating its annual models of the havoc that pandemics would wreak on America’s critical infrastructure in 2017, according to current and former DHS officials with direct knowledge of the matter. From at least 2005 to 2017, an office inside DHS, in tandem with analysts and supercomputers at several national laboratories, produced detailed analyses of what would happen to everything from transportation systems to hospitals if a pandemic hit the United States. (Lippman, 3/24)
Politico: Coronavirus Among Air Traffic Control Workers Could Threaten U.S. Aviation System
A major outbreak of the coronavirus among air traffic controllers could threaten much of the U.S. aviation system's efficiency, revealing weaknesses in the Federal Aviation Administration's contingency plans. FAA personnel at air traffic control facilities from Las Vegas to New York have tested positive in the last week, prompting closures while the buildings were cleaned. The majority of the almost one dozen facilities affected so far have been towers at airports, but two of the incidents have been at centers responsible for controlling airspace over multiple states. (Gurciullo, 3/25)
