American intelligence agencies tracked the emergence of a new coronavirus in November 2019, a few weeks before this information was included in the daily briefing of the President of Donald trump.
About this CNN said a former American military official.
Although the exact date of the first report remains unclear, sources told CNN that intelligence data collected in November, offered an early warning about the potential seriousness of a pandemic.
Earlier Wednesday, ABC News announced that the national center for medical intelligence (NCMI) in November gathered information, warning about the spread of the new virus in the region of Wuhan.
But while officials deny that such records exist.
The Pentagon also issued a statement refuting the data to ABC News.
«In practice, national center for medical intelligence does not comment publicly on specific issues. However, in the interests of transparency during the current crisis, we can confirm that the information media is not true. Such a report NCMI does not exist», — said the Director of the National center for medical intelligence, Colonel Dr. R. Shane.
On Wednesday, President Donald trump said that he learned of the severity of the coronavirus just before the introduction of U.S. travel restrictions to China, which came into force on 2 February.
According to media sources, U.S. intelligence officials are trying to determine how many cases and deaths, particularly in China, which published the figures «cannot be trusted».
«This is an important task when the government «closed» and do not provide transparent public information,» said former Director of National intelligence James Clapper.
