Posted on 03/11/2020 1:24:52 PM PDT by ransomnote
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House has ordered federal health officials to treat top-level coronavirus meetings as classified, an unusual step that has restricted information and hampered the U.S. government’s response to the contagion, according to four Trump administration officials.
The officials said that dozens of classified discussions about such topics as the scope of infections, quarantines and travel restrictions have been held since mid-January in a high-security meeting room at the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), a key player in the fight against the coronavirus.
Staffers without security clearances, including government experts, were excluded from the interagency meetings, which included video conference calls, the sources said.
“We had some very critical people who did not have security clearances who could not go,” one official said. “These should not be classified meetings. It was unnecessary.”
The sources said the National Security Council (NSC), which advises the president on security issues, ordered the classification.”This came directly from the White House,” one official said.
The White House insistence on secrecy at the nation’s premier public health organization, which has not been previously disclosed, has put a lid on certain information - and potentially delayed the response to the crisis. COVID19, the disease caused by the virus, has killed about 30 people in the United States and infected more than 1,000 people.
HHS oversees a broad range of health agencies, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which among other things is responsible for tracking cases and providing guidance nationally on the outbreaks.
The administration officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said they could not describe the interactions in the meeting room because they were classified.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
It's TDS writ large.
These people are sick.
Good. Leakers beware.
I don’t like government secrecy, but in this environment, it’s understandable. The media WOULD LOVE to LEAK these deliberations, ANYTHING to attack Trump (and the American people who voted for him) and generate hysteria, which they think will hurt Trump.
I would expect this to happen. Duh.
Fake news????? Sources- Who!!!
Already posted, and I trust Reuters and their unnamed sources about as much as the Washington Compost and the New York Slimes. They are heavily invested in promoting an anti-Trump campaign.
Reuter’s - worthless leftist hacks. So I Schiff will start new impeachment hearings based on this BS.
It’s clearly an issue of National Security. If we end up like China, we’ll have martial law here.
Increases my suspicion that this was an intentional attack by China.
“one official said”
“the sources said”
I have considered that all along...
Of course these meetings are classified, we already knew Trump would do this, because he’s a stable genius.
The criminals are the leakers.
Lock them up!
Or by the deep state.
Bill Gates, anyone?
Wish they had done this a week ago.
Way to many of the Corona Cheerleaders have already painted themselves into corners
absolutely not surprising given the environment Trump has to work with.
not surprising as while it has been denied...this is a bio-weapon gone rogue.
couple that with the arrest of the Harvard professor in nano-neuroscience and 1 Chinese spy stopped at the airport with 21 vials of ???? and the other Chinese spy who is military and made it back to China...
Couple that with the breach at the lab in Canada of another bio-expert working in...Wuhan lab...
Couple all of this with the timing of the Democrats, in particular Nancy Pelosi saying that Trump is a National Security Threat and must be impeached at the similar time ...
Now we just need a few pictures of pelosi and a few democrats with the Harvard professor and the folks from the Canadian Lab...and we have a major attempt at the overthrow of our government.
It all ties together folks! It really does, if you actually believe that democrats often project what they are doing...”national security threat.” They were orchestrating this..every bit of it.
This Wuhan Flu...is actually one of ours.
That I agree with. 8>)
But he certainly is not hiding things.
I can see where some secrecy is merited. In order to have an honest discussion you can’t be concerned with seeing some “off the wall” comment distorted and blasted across the MSM.
No more leaks, and, if briefings are classified, and somebody talks, The Patriot Act!!!
Whenever the President does something right, the MSM runs a story with anonymous sources to make a liar out of him. Governor Newsom has praised Trump's response. Pence is proving to be a good administrator over the Federal response.
On cue, out come stories from anonymous sources negating what the President is getting right.
If the ChiComs were doing some really bad stuff, and we found out via an intel source in their hierarchy.
We may never know who, when, or ???.
Exposing that individual could not only endanger the individual, his peers and his family beside losing a vital intel resource.
If so, you might find out who/what/when, say 50 years from now.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.