The Inspector General of the Intelligence Community might have access to when certain COVID-19 intelligence products were produced, for which customers, and when they were delivered.

Just sayin'.

Us, the USIC-IG would also have been able to investigate whistleblower complaints about dispatching Russian Mob agents to Ukraine. Sure.

And that issue was the basis of impeachment...while the COVID-19 situation was analyzed by the USIC. For the President and other customers.

Nancy Pelosi had Adam Schiff start open impeachment hearings into the intelligence community whistleblower issue around Ukraine coincidentally the same week as COVID-19 emerged as a threat in China.

Trump did nothing. McConnell buried the impeachment trial as fast as he could.

I'd like to riff here a bit more on the world-class* products provided by the USIC and its mainly Five Eye (UK, Can, Aus, NZ) partners to US customers - POTUS and other decision makers.

(*most of the time, don't @ me about Iraq, that one's complex)

To recap, there are 16 intelligence agencies, and a 17th, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, that collates their activities.

You've likely heard of the main ones, but let's get specific.

Central Intelligence Agency - we've all heard of that one - it specializes in foreign intelligence analysis through mainly human sources intelligence (HUMINT, or "We just ask the guy.)

Likely, you *don't* know the others, unless you're a serious intel dork/have a clearance.

So the the CIA does foreign intel through human sources/clandestine work. What are the others?

FBI Intelligence Branch: they can operate on U.S. soil, responsible for tracking spies and their activities here in America, track weapons of mass destruction, terrorism.

FBI and the DEA's intel agency are organized under the Dept. of Justice.

The Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence is organized under the Dept. of the Treasury, which includes the Treasury Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)

The rest are mostly under DoD.

DoD's agency include Nat'l Reconnaissance Office, which provides satellite-derived intel to other agencies.

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency provides the "eyes in the sky" through satellites.

Defense Intelligence Agency assessment military readiness of other nations.

Then, the now-famous NSA, which gathers signals from foreign nations.

There are others (sorry State INR, still love you guys but gotta move on) but this gives an idea of what's produced daily: A LOT.

Here's how that might work for COVID-19 and what Trump knew:

NSA might be picking up chatter around the world about a sickness breaking out in China starting in Nov. 2019.

(Remember, before it makes it to a Presidential Daily Brief, intelligence needs to be corroborated, analyzed, checked through other sources, and needs to be urgent.)

CIA might have human sources on the ground reporting back that there's definitely an emergency in Wuhan, Hubei Province that's not hitting the news, especially not Xinhua of official sources.

This, as far back as Nov. or Dec. 2019.

NGA would be giving satellite imagery of activity around certain facilities - perhaps especially the Institute of Virology in Wuhan.

DIA might provide measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) to show troop movements, changes in readiness, also as far back as 2019.

Local spies talking about the Wuhan situation on U.S. soil already subject to FISA warrants without their knowledge? FBI Intelligence Branch might be scooping up the goodies there.

All of that would go back to the Dir. of Nat'l Intelligence.

Which Dan Coats quit in Aug. 2019.

If you go back and look at the "Ukraine-Burisma-Mob Op" timeline that formed the basis of the impeachment, Mueller - his work cut short in March 2019 by Bill Barr - testifies before Congress in July 2019.

Trump is actively trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the 2010 election.

Mueller testifies July 24, 2019 in Congress.

Trump is shaking down Ukraine's president to interfere in the 2020 election July 25, 2019

DNI Coats quits days later. Bolton a month later as APNSA.

September 2019, a whistleblower from the USIC tries to inform Congress, is blocked.

Impeachment hearings begin November 2019 as the COVID-19 pandemic starts in Wuhan.

The USIC was *still producing its intelligence, daily* to inform decisionmakers.

Ergo, Trump was preoccupied with impeachment for acts that were clearly unconstitutional. Meanwhile, he did not resign - he stayed on and was no doubt briefed on all manner of threats, including one of the most clear and present dangers, COVID-19.

Trump was calling COVID-19 a hoax while receiving briefings from the most powerful intelligence community in history.

The person most likely to know the real story - who could investigate - would have been Michael Atkinson, Inspector General of the USIC.

Trump just fired him.

As Nixon could tell Trump from the grave, all firing Inspectors General and Attorneys General does is focus more interest on your reason for doing so - IT ERASES NOTHING FROM THE RECORD.

And DC keeps better memos of such things today than back then.

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