Timeline of When US Knew About Coronavirus Disputed

While the Pentagon denies that an “intelligence report” warned about the coronavirus in November, there are reports of intel that raised the attention of public health officials in December.

Former and current officials told NBC News that while a “formal assessment” may not have been produced by the military’s National Center for Medical Intelligence in November, there were written assessments made in December.

The officials told NBC that U.S. spy agencies collected images showing increased activity at health facilities in China in November, but it was not clear that a global pandemic was already forming. 

But by the time December hit, there was a formal assessment written and findings made their way to President Donald Trump’s intelligence briefing book in January. It is unknown if he read the information.

Reports that the United States was warned of the pending pandemic back in November were first reported by ABC News.

The Defense Department issued a statement disputing the report’s existence. 

"As a matter of practice the National Center for Medical Intelligence does not comment publicly on specific intelligence matters. However, in the interest of transparency during this current public health crisis, we can confirm that media reporting about the existence/release of a National Center for Medical Intelligence Coronavirus-related product/assessment in November of 2019 is not correct. No such NCMI product exists," the statement said.

Air Force Gen. John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Thursday that he did not see intelligence reports on the coronavirus until January.

"We went back and looked at everything in November and December," he said. "The first indication we have were the reports out of China in late December that were in the public forum. And the first intel reports I saw were in January."

Earlier this week, Defense Secretary Mark Esper told ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos that he was “not aware” of any report or briefing from December. 

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