--- title: "Secret U.S. Intel Report: America Unprepared for Global Pandemic" description: "A secret report by the Director of National Intelligence says that the United States is starkly unprepared for a global pandemic, officials say." date: "2020-03-10" modified: "2020-03-10" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/secret-gov-intel-report-us-unprepared-global-pandemic" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "coronavirus" - "covid19" - "health" - "politics" --- # Secret U.S. Intel Report: America Unprepared for Global Pandemic ![A secret report by the Director of National Intelligence says that the United States is starkly unprepared for a global pandemic, officials say.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* A secret report by the Director of National Intelligence says that the United States is starkly unprepared for a global pandemic — and the White House is blocking its release. At least, that's according to two senior government officials who [blabbed to *Time*]() about the report, which was scheduled to be released early February, according to the magazine. But, says *Time*, plans to release it were scrapped as the COVID-19 coronavirus started going global. The anonymous officials say the report's contents are chillingly similar to a previous report released last year. Per *Time,* that 2019 report reads (emphasis ours): "*The United States will remain vulnerable to the next flu pandemic or large-scale outbreak of a contagious disease that could lead to massive rates of death and disability, severely affect the world economy, strain international resources, and increase calls on the United States for support.*" Sound familiar? In a year without a dramatic outbreak, that news would likely be buried — just look at the attention we pay to [ dire warnings]() about the looming threat of climate change, for instance. But in the context of the deadly COVID-19, the report could be politically explosive. That raises questions about whether the Trump administration is postponing its release to avoid [even more scrutiny]() of its [coronavirus response](). If this year's report is similar to the last one, as those senior officials say, then you can see why the White House would want to avoid the [additional embarrassment](). And yet. The 2019 report, per *Time*, also noted: "*Although the international community has made tenuous improvements to global health security, these gains may be inadequate to address the challenge of what we anticipate will be more frequent outbreaks of infectious diseases because of rapid unplanned urbanization, prolonged humanitarian crises, human incursion into previously unsettled land, expansion of international travel and trade, and regional climate change.*" Again: any of that sound familiar? ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()