© 2026 ABC News

The Pentagon did not comment Tuesday, but on Wednesday evening following the publication of this report, the Defense Department provided a statement from Col. R. Shane Day, Director of the NCMI.

\"As a matter of practice the National Center for Medical Intelligence does not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. However, in the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists,\" the statement said.

The White House National Security Council and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence declined to comment.

Critics have charged the Trump administration with being flat-footed and late in its response to a pandemic that, after sweeping through Wuhan and then parts of Europe, has now killed more than 12,000 in the U.S.

For his part, President Donald Trump has alternated between taking credit for early action and claiming that the coronavirus was a surprise to him and everyone else. He has repeatedly touted his Jan. 31 decision to restrict air travel with China, but at the same time, he spent weeks telling the public and top administration officials that there was nothing for Americans to fear.

On Jan. 22, for instance, Trump made his first comments about the virus when asked in a CNBC interview, \"Are there worries about a pandemic at this point?\" The president responded, \"No. Not at all. And we have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.\"

\"PHOTO:
Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
PHOTO: Passengers wear facemasks as they form a queue at the Wuhan Wuchang Railway Station in Wuhan, early April 8, 2020, as they prepare to leave the city in China's central Hubei province.
>

As late as Feb. 19, Trump was offering positive reviews for the way China’s leaders had handled the coronavirus.

\"I'm confident that they're trying very hard,\" Trump told an interviewer from Fox 10 in Phoenix. \"They're working it -- they built, they built a hospital in seven days, and now they're building another one. I think it's going to work out fine.\"

It was not until March 13 when Trump declared a national emergency and mobilized the vast resources of the federal government to help public-health agencies deal with the crisis that was poised to crash on to the homeland.

If it were true that America’s spy agencies were caught that off guard, one intelligence official told ABC News, \"that would be a massive intel failure on the order of 9/11. But it wasn’t. They had the intelligence.\"

ABC News contributor John Cohen, who used to oversee intelligence operations at the Department of Homeland Security, said even the best information would be of no use if officials do not act on it.

\"When responding to a public health crisis or any other serious security threat, it is critical that our leaders react quickly and take steps to address the threat identified in the intelligence reporting,\" said Cohen, the former acting undersecretary of DHS. \"It’s not surprising to me that the intelligence community detected the outbreak; what is surprising and disappointing is that the White House ignored the clear warning signs, failed to follow established pandemic response protocols and were slow to put in place a government-wide effort to respond to this crisis.\"

ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Luis Martinez and Terrance Smith contributed to this report.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/Politics/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources/story?id=70031273","legacySlug":"/news/story/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources-70031273","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"01:55","publishDate":"04-09-2020","updatedTime":"21:52","updatedDate":"04-11-2020","socialImage":{"alt":"Passengers wear facemasks as they form a queue at the Wuhan Wuchang Railway Station in Wuhan, early April 8, 2020, as they prepare to leave the city in China's central Hubei province.","credit":"Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/china-gty-aa-200407_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"4/9/2020 01:55:00 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":70031273,"headline":"Report warned of coronavirus in November: Sources","mediaAssetTitle":"FEMA MEMOS","description":"\"Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,\" a source said.","duration":"1:53","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200408_gma_vega_0707_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["70010113","70019576","70025470"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"April 7, 2020","headline":"Calls to US helpline jump 891%, as White House is warned of mental health crisis","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/calls-us-helpline-jump-891-white-house-warned-70010113","id":70010113,"image":{"alt":"Calls to US helpline jump 891%, as White House is warned of mental health crisis","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/depressed-person-stock-sh-jef-2004-6_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"STOCK PHOTO/Shutterstock","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"April 7, 2020","headline":"US works to assure allies, deny allegations of seizing supplies in 'mask wars'","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/us-works-assure-allies-deny-allegations-seizing-supplies-70019576","id":70019576,"image":{"alt":"US works to assure allies, deny allegations of seizing supplies in 'mask wars'","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/International/face-mask-shipment-gty-jt-200407_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Shi Zhongyu/Xinhua via Getty Images","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"April 7, 2020","headline":"Disaster in motion: Where flights from coronavirus-ravaged countries landed in US","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/disaster-motion-flights-coronavirus-ravaged-countries-landed-us-70025470","id":70025470,"image":{"alt":"Disaster in motion: Where flights from coronavirus-ravaged countries landed in US","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/tsa-sanfran-sh-ps-200407_hpMain_2_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"John G. Mabanglo/EPA via Shutterstock","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Report warned of coronavirus in November: Sources","description":"\"Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event,\" a source said.","duration":"1:53","uploadDate":"04-09-2020","publication":"04-09-2020","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200408_gma_vega_0707_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2020/04/200408_gma_vega_0707_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/news/story/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources-70031273"}},"playlist":[{"id":"132569874","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132567885","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132510121","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132473181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132497933","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132281378","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132283010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132273278","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132231169","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132206748","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132200241","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054443","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132054798","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"132033010","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131912713","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131830583","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131834976","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554765","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131554815","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"131543053","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:news:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"news","title":"Report warned of coronavirus in November: Sources","pubTime":"21:55","pubDate":"04-08-2020","modTime":"17:52","modDate":"04-11-2020","taxonomyTags":"none","id":70031273,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Report warned of coronavirus in November: Sources","mediaAssetTitle":"FEMA MEMOS","videoId":70031273,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/news/story/intelligence-report-warned-coronavirus-crisis-early-november-sources-70031273"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/70031273","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/70031273","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};