2017 Pentagon Memo
Reportedly Anticipated Threat of COVID-19-like Pandemic
© REUTERS / Andrew Kelly
07:59 GMT 09.04.2020
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The United States death toll from COVID-19 now
ranks second globally, according to Johns Hopkins University's data, as
frontline health workers have been struggling with shortages of medical
supplies while governors across the country have slammed the Federal response
to the novel coronavirus.
An internal Pentagon document dated 2017
offered up a warning about the potential threat of a novel coronavirus and the
disastrous fallout from it, according to The Nation magazine.
Marked “for official use only” and dated 6
January 2017, the 103-page document titled “USNORTHCOM Branch Plan 3560:
Pandemic Influenza and Infectious Disease Response” was reportedly provided to
the outlet by an anonymous Pentagon official.
Predicting an Outbreak
The draft
suggests the military had been
bracing for a potential
widespread pandemic, as it
spelled out the havoc it might wreak on military readiness and national
security.
“Key security concerns that could arise from
the political, social and economic instabilities include opportunistic
aggression, opportunities for violent extremists to acquire weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) … instability resulting from humanitarian disaster and
decreased distribution of essential commodities,” said the document.
The draft, writes the publication, updated an
earlier Department of Defense pandemic response plan, as it “incorporates
insights from several recent outbreaks, including…2012 Middle Eastern
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus.”
The internal document goes on to
state that an outbreak of
“disease coupled with instability may result in reduced security capabilities,”
warning that the situation could potentially set the stage for “international
military conflict, increased terrorist activity, internal unrest, political
and/or economic collapse, a humanitarian crisis and social change”.
The memo also warns that US Northern Command,
“due to the effects of the disease on personal and resources, may not have the
capacity to effectively support [the U.S. government and partner nations] with
the support required.”
The Pentagon memo cited by The Nation outlined
the specific conditions under which an infectious disease similar to the
current COVID-19 respiratory virus featuring “high virulence” might potentially
become a pandemic, such as “crowded workplaces, proximity to international airports,
and unsanitary living conditions.”.
Furthermore, the cited draft military memo
seemed to predict some of the medical supply shortages and even “insufficient
hospital beds” currently being witnessed.
“Competition for, and scarcity of resources
will include…non-pharmaceutical MCM [medical countermeasures] (e.g.,
ventilators, devices, personal protective equipment such as face masks and
gloves), medical equipment, and logistical support. This will have a
significant impact on the availability of the global workforce,” reads the
draft.
The report continues:
“Even the most industrialised countries will
have insufficient hospital beds, specialised equipment such as mechanical
ventilators, and pharmaceuticals readily available to adequately treat their
populations during the clinically severe pandemic.”
Yet another singular prediction in the memo
underscored the global rivalry to obtain a vaccine, as a race against time is
underway in several countries to develop new drugs and amidst accounts of
Donald Trump reportedly offering German scientists large sums of money for
exclusive rights to a vaccine.
The report ultimately states that US NORTHCOM
may acquire and distribute vaccines to military personal via NORTHCOM logistics
networks.
There has not been an official comment on the
report from the Pentagon.
The news comes amidst grave concerns regarding insufficient
medical supplies in the US as state
governors say their demands for more masks and other medical equipment are not
being met, forcing them to compete with each other for critical supplies.
“This should have been a coordinated effort by
the federal government...It’s a Wild West out there...Indeed we’re overpaying
for PPE because of that competition,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on CNN’s
“State of the Union”.
On 7 April leaders of the House Homeland
Security and Oversight and Reform committees wrote to the Federal Emergency Management Agency about supply chain issues
in acquiring medical supplies, referencing a recent inspector general report
that deplored severe shortages faced by hospitals nationwide and questioned
“the agency’s opaque and evolving processes.'
Last week Donald Trump urged General Motors
and Ford on Twitter to speed up the manufacture of ventilators for COVID-19
patients.
General Motors MUST immediately open their stupidly abandoned Lordstown plant in Ohio, or some other plant, and START MAKING VENTILATORS, NOW!!!!!! FORD, GET GOING ON VENTILATORS, FAST!!!!!! @GeneralMotors @Ford
The United States has more than 432,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and
more than 14,800 deaths due to the disease, according to data published by Johns Hopkins University.
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