WASHINGTON' : In late February when US President Donald Trump was urging Americans not to panic over the novel coronavirus, alarms were sounding at a little-known intelligence unit situated on a US Army base.
Intelligence, science and medical professionals at the National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), located at Fort Detrick in Maryland, were quietly doing what they have done for decades—monitoring and tracking global health threats that could endanger US troops abroad and Americans at home.
On 25 February, the NCMI raised its warning that the coronavirus would become a pandemic within 30 days from WATCHCON 2—a probable crisis—to WATCHCON 1—an imminent one, according to a US official.