.@carriecordero and I argue that the intelligence reports made available to @realDonaldTrump and members of Congress about the coronavirus in January and February should be declassified and made public. What did they know, and what didn’t they tell us?
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/…
What did the president know about the coronavirus, and when did he know it? What did members of Congress know, and when did they know it?
Quite possibly a lot, and for quite a while: As reported in a @washingtonpost last week (see below) Intelligence agencies “were issuing ominous, classified warnings in January and February while President Trump and lawmakers played down the threat.”
These intelligence assessments made the rounds in the executive and legislative branches, but the American people weren’t told about them.
Americans should know what their government knew about an impending crisis that would jeopardize their livelihoods and lives. These reports should be declassified and released, along with the identity of the senior officials and members of Congress who learned of them.
That’s especially true given how Trump repeatedly told the public that the impact of the virus on the United States would be minimal, and given his praise of China, which the agencies warned was misleading the world about the virus.
No doubt Trump will claim the reports and briefings are classified. But it’s quite likely that much of the intelligence regarding coronavirus relied heavily on open-source information, which of course doesn’t need to be kept under wraps.
Sources and methods can be redacted. And this isn’t about military or diplomatic matters that could undermine national security. Classification isn’t meant to protect the president from the revelation of information whose only sensitivity is potential embarrassment.
If handled in good faith, classification issues shouldn’t prevent public disclosure. It’s not the details of how the agencies collected the information but rather their assessment that the American people need to know.
For what truly matters is who knew what, and when—and what actions they took to protect the public in response.
And there’s no legitimate reason to keep that a secret.
And there’s no legitimate reason to keep that a secret.
