(This article, written by Joel McCleary and Mark Medish, first appeared in Counterpunch.) Nobel-winning biologist Joshua Lederberg warned “the single biggest threat to man’s continued dominance on the planet is the virus.” The Covid19 pandemic is a wakeup call to this existential truth. The reality of the novel coronavirus pandemic must now usher in a...
Tag: Pandemic
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The Spies Who Predicted COVID-19
Former CIA spokesman Kent Harrington runs down the history of warnings from the intelligence community about pandemics. There were quite a few. Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama paid attention. The intelligence community first raised the alert immediately after President Barack Obama took office in January 2009, when then-DNI Dennis Blair testified that, “The most pressing...
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Trump Closed the White House Pandemic Office in 2018
Nothing demonstrates the failure of U.S. national security policymaking in the Trump era more than the president’s decision to downgrade the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense less than two years ago. Trump and National Security adviser John Bolton had a conception of “national security” that downplayed the well-known...