美情報透露：中共高層已擬訂撤退中南海應變計畫 自由20200223

【縛雞之見】

Concealing the information, which should be opened to the public, will trigger the nerves of the intelligence agencies.  It is especially true if its counterpart is collecting data and giving orders through military channels.

The retreat plan of leadership is just common to any country.  However, China is preparing the plan is something extraordinary.  The move simply exposes the fact that CCP is no longer competent.

The point is that this time we cannot see our enemy: the virus and bacteria.  If we cannot see the enemy, what should we respond?  The PLA is in the middle of the harsh questions: protecting CCP’s leadership, or having a coup?

It is another extraordinary to see that the retreating plan comprises of the suicidal options such as: leaving China or seeking refuge overseas.

疫情隱匿與瞭解，相關方到只能夠過軍事管道來攻防。

撤退計劃，任何國家都一定會有的。

只是針對武漢肺炎的實施，可以看出非比尋常。

問題在：敵人是病毒，看不見。所以，解放軍的態度會是：保護中央，或都是中央搞的！只在一念之間。

倒是：「中共高層領導人離開中國、或尋求海外庇護所」，對中共而言，這是前所未聞的態度。

美情報透露：中共高層已擬訂撤退中南海應變計畫    自由20200223

中國武漢爆發的新型冠狀病毒引發的肺炎（COVID-19，下稱武漢肺炎）疫情持續蔓延惡化，目前接近失控狀態，北京疫情更惡化，已進入戰時封管，據美國情報機構人員的透露，已有跡象顯示，中共高層已擬訂應急逃離計劃。

美國版《雅虎新聞》由調查記者珍娜·麥克勞林（Jenna Mclaughlin）撰寫的新聞指出，因為中共官員疑似在限制武漢肺炎疫情訊息的釋出，外界很難從中國公衛體系看到疫情真相，使得美國情報機構出動，協助找尋疫情真象。

報導指出，從美方情報單位搜集到的訊息顯示，目前中國政府是透過軍事管道來獲得最新的疫情動態。

一位前美國情報官員表示，已有跡象發現，中共領導層疑似正在進行撤退應變計劃的制訂，內容包括中共高層領導人離開中國、或尋求海外庇護所的安全舉動，這項計劃的提出，至少表明北京內部對疫情的潛在擔憂程度。

報導指出，在白宮有關武漢病毒的防疫工作團隊中，美國3個重要的情報機構，包括了國家情報總監（Director of National Intelligence）辦公室、中央情報局（CIA）的全球問題任務中心以及國防情報局（Defense Intelligence Agency，簡稱DIA）的國家醫學情報中心等，都跟衛生和公共服務部以及疾病控制與預防中心（CDC）一起運作，在接受CDC的領導。

由於疫情正在擴大，美國方面正在擬定萬一大爆發後全球應對措施。

With information from China scarce, U.S. spies enlisted to track coronavirus    Yahoo US 20200223

WASHINGTON — As Chinese officials face allegations of locking down information about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. intelligence agencies have been helping in governmentwide efforts to gather information about the disease’s global spread.

Already, some of the best information about the coronavirus and the Chinese government’s response to it is coming from military channels, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

“China’s behavior causes the intelligence community to get involved,” said one of those sources, a former intelligence official.  “Because no data means spying.”

The former official indicated that the most important issue being tracked is the Chinese leadership plans for what is known as “continuity of operations,” meaning the ability for the government to maintain its basic functions during an unprecedented crisis, such as nuclear war or natural disaster.

In China, this might involve senior leaders leaving the country or seeking safety in shelters, “like U.S. doomsday bunkers,” said the source.  The intel community, said the source, is seeing some signs Chinese officials are making those kinds of contingency plans, indicating the potential level of concern within Beijing.

The intelligence community’s involvement comes amid international frustrations with China’s reticence to accept international assistance.  The World Health Organization, including American experts, was finally allowed to visit China on Monday to do field research on the disease but has been delayed and will not, as of now, be visiting the alleged location of the origin of the outbreak due to what Chinese officials described as a lack of time and resources to host international experts.

At least officially, however, the WHO has been complimentary of China's efforts.  In a statement, the WHO told Yahoo News that “since the beginning of the outbreak, China [has] shared data in a transparent manner.”

However, the organization, which receives funding from China, has come under fire for what many have called a delayed response to the outbreak and a failure to pressure Chinese leadership into further openness.

In the United States, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA’s Global Issues Mission Center and the Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Center for Medical Intelligence have all been supporting the White House Task Force on the coronavirus, according to three intelligence sources familiar with the matter.  The task force is led by the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The National Center for Medical Intelligence is based in Fort Detrick, Md., and tracks disease outbreaks and potential danger to the U.S. military, as well as preparedness of foreign leaders to respond to pandemics or other related attacks.  A military spokesman told Yahoo News the agency “is closely monitoring the coronavirus outbreak and the worldwide response to it.”

In this instance of the coronavirus, the intelligence community has to figure out a way to quickly gather information about a rapidly progressing potential pandemic without risking human sources’ lives, losing track of other threats or getting in the way of the CDC and WHO, which take primary responsibility for response and outreach.

As of Thursday, the WHO reported over 75,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus disease globally, as well as 2,129 deaths, the majority in China, notifying travelers that the global risk assessment for the disease is “high.”  Symptoms can range from a common cold to more severe respiratory symptoms, and is transmitted from person to person.

A global pandemic has long been a concern to U.S. national security officials, and planning for such outbreaks has been a crucial part of government planning in previous administrations.

“Pandemic disease poses one of the greatest threats to global stability and security,” wrote Lisa Monaco, who served as President Barack Obama’s homeland security and counterterrorism adviser, in an op-ed on the LawFare, a national security blog.  She also noted that the Trump White House no longer has a “dedicated unit to oversee preparedness for pandemics,” as there was under Obama during the West African Ebola crisis.

The U.S. and China have seen tensions rise over recent years as the U.S. cracks down on Chinese espionage and intellectual property theft amid an ongoing trade war, making it harder for U.S. officials to get complete information about the public health crisis.

While there are always channels available to communicate with China, it’s not always clear Chinese officials will make use of them or pick up the phone, said one national security official.  The Communist Party and the broader bureaucracy are concerned about reporting bad news to President Xi Jinping, and also the disease’s potential impact on the global economy.

The situation with China “certainly makes it harder, I think more necessary and harder,” to get solid intelligence, said Greg Treverton, a professor at the University of Southern California and a former chairman of the National Intelligence Council, in an interview with Yahoo News.

Treverton, who has written extensively about transnational threats, recalled the government’s internal response to both the SARS epidemic in 2003, another instance of the coronavirus in China, as well as the gargantuan effort around responding to the West African Ebola epidemic between 2014 and 2016.  He told Yahoo News that the intelligence community invested heavily in anticipatory tracking to follow Ebola’s path in Africa before cases surfaced in the U.S. and the issue became more domestic.

“These are existential, serious issues,” continued Treverton.  “Health is an enormous national security issue, particularly when the intelligence target” — i.e., China — “is not as helpful as it should be.”