Global Security and Intelligence Studies • Volume 5 , Number 2 • Fall / Winter 2020
Prediction Plus Patchwork Equals Pandemic
Margaret S . Marangione Syntelligent Analytic Solutions
What do the Taliban , gangs
in South America , and the
New England Patriots Football team have in common ? They all purchased facemasks to support their communities in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic . A hodgepodge pandemic response from many formal governments , states , agencies , medical intelligence ( MEDINT ) organizations working in silos , and people in power ignoring bio-threat recommendations created this opportunity for unlikely humanitarian bedmates . There is a disparity in how countries and US states are handling the crisis , and there are challenges in addressing the spread and reopening of states and businesses . Yet , looking back at the Spanish flu and listening to the forewarnings and recommendations by the intelligence community provides policy- and decision-makers an opportunity to improve bio-surveillance and bio-threat management . COVID-19 is a bellwether for change .
Introduction
For many Americans and the global community who are living in the dystopian reality that the pandemic has created , it seems unbelievable that in March 2020 we watched drone footage and images of burial crews in freshly dug muddy trenches burying body after body in bare wooden boxes in New York . This is one of many searing illustrations of the pandemic ’ s ghastly mortal toll , along with those of field hospital tents in Central Park , a Navy hospital ship off Manhattan , and refrigerated trailers parked outside hospitals to handle the overflow of bodies . This happens in developing countries , not the City on a Hill . America ended up at this gruesome juncture because predictions of a bio disaster , which were voiced as early as the Bush administration , continued through the Obama administration , and went unnoticed by the Trump administration , were disregarded by key decision-makers . Additionally , because the numerous and far-reaching bio-threat players exist in silos , there is a delay in reporting information , and the Big Data that has to be sorted through to derive MED- INT analysis is like piecing together an Appalachian crazy quilt . Additionally , with the politicization of data , data integrity may be compromised .
From a military perspective , just like , SIGNIT , MASINIT and other intelligence collections , MEDNIT encompasses the processes of collection , evaluation , analysis , and interpretation of medical , bio-scientific , and environmental information . Part of MED-
1 doi : 10.18278 / gsis . 5.2.2