Intelligence report warned of coronavirus crisis as early as November: SourcesWhen the White House was first warned of coronavirusAccording  to an exclusive ABC News investigation the National Center for Medical  Intelligence warned the military and White House about the spread of the  virus in China as far back as late November.
As far back as late November, U.S. intelligence officials were warning that a contagion was sweeping through China’s Wuhan region,  changing the patterns of life and business and posing a threat to the  population, according to four sources briefed on the secret reporting.
Concerns about what is now known to be the novel coronavirus  pandemic were detailed in a November intelligence report by the  military's National Center for Medical Intelligence (NCMI), according to  two officials familiar with the document’s contents.
The report was the result of analysis of wire and computer intercepts,  coupled with satellite images. It raised alarms because an  out-of-control disease would pose a serious threat to U.S. forces in  Asia -- forces that depend on the NCMI’s work. And it paints a picture  of an American government that could have ramped up mitigation and  containment efforts far earlier to prepare for a crisis poised to come  home.
"Analysts concluded it could be a cataclysmic event," one of the sources  said of the NCMI’s report. "It was then briefed multiple times to" the  Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s Joint Staff and the White  House.
MORE: CDC director downplays coronavirus models, says death toll will be 'much lower' than projected
From that warning in November, the sources described repeated briefings  through December for policy-makers and decision-makers across the  federal government as well as the National Security Council at the White  House. All of that culminated with a detailed explanation of the  problem that appeared in the President’s Daily Brief of intelligence  matters in early January, the sources said. For something to have  appeared in the PDB, it would have had to go through weeks of vetting  and analysis, according to people who have worked on presidential  briefings in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
"The timeline of the intel side of this may be further back than we’re  discussing," the source said of preliminary reports from Wuhan. "But  this was definitely being briefed beginning at the end of November as  something the military needed to take a posture on."
Tune into ABC at 1 p.m. ET and ABC News Live at 4 p.m. ET  every weekday for special coverage of the novel coronavirus with the  full ABC News team, including the latest news, context and analysis.
Ambulance  medical staff arrive at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital with an elderly woman,  who recovered from COVID-19, at Wuhan in China's central Hubei  province, March 30, 2020.Ambulance  medical staff arrive at Wuhan Red Cross Hospital with an elderly woman,  who recovered from COVID-19, at Wuhan in China's central Hubei  province, March 30, 2020.AFP via Getty Images, FILE
The NCMI report was made available widely to people authorized to access  intelligence community alerts. Following the report’s release, other  intelligence community bulletins began circulating through confidential  channels across the government around Thanksgiving, the sources said.  Those analyses said China’s leadership knew the epidemic was out of  control even as it kept such crucial information from foreign  governments and public health agencies.
"It would be a significant alarm that would have been set off by this,"  former Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary Mick Mulroy, now an ABC News  contributor, said of the NCMI report. "And it would have been something  that would be followed up by literally every intelligence-collection  agency."
Mulroy, who previously served as a senior official at the CIA, said NCMI  does serious work that senior government leaders do not ignore.
"Medical intelligence takes into account all source information --  imagery intelligence, human intelligence, signals intelligence," Mulroy  said. "Then there’s analysis by people who know those specific areas. So  for something like this to have come out, it has been reviewed by  experts in the field. They’re taking together what those pieces of  information mean and then looking at the potential for an international  health crisis."
MORE: Trump abruptly removes inspector general named to oversee $2T in stimulus spending
NCMI is a component of the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency.  Together, the agencies’ core responsibilities are to ensure U.S.  military forces have the information they need to carry out their  missions -- both offensively and defensively. It is a critical priority  for the Pentagon to keep American service members healthy on  deployments.
Asked about the November warning last Sunday on ABC’s "This Week,"  Defense Secretary Mark Esper told Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos, "I  can't recall, George. But we have many people who watch this closely.  We have the premier infectious disease research institute in America,  within the United States Army. So, our people who work these issues  directly watch this all the time."
Pressing the secretary, Stephanopoulos asked, "So, you would have known  if there was briefed to the National Security Council in December,  wouldn't you?"
Esper said, "Yes. I'm not aware of that."


The Pentagon, White House National Security Council and the Office of  the Director of National Intelligence each declined to comment Tuesday.
Critics have charged the Trump administration with being flat-footed and  late in its response to a pandemic that, after sweeping through Wuhan  and then parts of Europe, has now killed more than 12,000 in the U.S.
For his part, President Donald Trump has alternated between taking  credit for early action and claiming that the coronavirus was a surprise  to him and everyone else. He has repeatedly touted his Jan. 31 decision  to restrict air travel with China, but at the same time, he spent weeks  telling the public and top administration officials that there was  nothing for Americans to fear.
On Jan. 22, for instance, Trump made his first comments about the virus  when asked in a CNBC interview, "Are there worries about a pandemic at  this point?" The president responded, "No. Not at all. And we have it  totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have  it under control. It’s going to be just fine."
Passengers  wear facemasks as they form a queue at the Wuhan Wuchang Railway  Station in Wuhan, early April 8, 2020, as they prepare to leave the city  in China's central Hubei province.Passengers  wear facemasks as they form a queue at the Wuhan Wuchang Railway  Station in Wuhan, early April 8, 2020, as they prepare to leave the city  in China's central Hubei province.Noel Celis/AFP via Getty Images
As late as Feb. 19, Trump was offering positive reviews for the way China’s leaders had handled the coronavirus.
"I'm confident that they're trying very hard," Trump told an interviewer  from Fox 10 in Phoenix. "They're working it -- they built, they built a  hospital in seven days, and now they're building another one. I think  it's going to work out fine."
It was not until March 13 when Trump declared a national emergency and  mobilized the vast resources of the federal government to help  public-health agencies deal with the crisis that was poised to crash on  to the homeland.
Editor's Picks
Calls to US helpline jump 891%, as White House is warned of mental health crisisUS works to assure allies, deny allegations of seizing supplies in 'mask wars'Disaster in motion: Where flights from coronavirus-ravaged countries landed in US
If it were true that America’s spy agencies were caught that off guard,  one intelligence official told ABC News, "that would be a massive intel  failure on the order of 9/11. But it wasn’t. They had the intelligence."
ABC News contributor John Cohen, who used to oversee intelligence  operations at the Department of Homeland Security, said even the best  information would be of no use if officials do not act on it.
"When responding to a public health crisis or any other serious security  threat, it is critical that our leaders react quickly and take steps to  address the threat identified in the intelligence reporting," said  Cohen, the former acting undersecretary of DHS. "It’s not surprising to  me that the intelligence community detected the outbreak; what is  surprising and disappointing is that the White House ignored the clear  warning signs, failed to follow established pandemic response protocols  and were slow to put in place a government-wide effort to respond to  this crisis."
ABC News' Katherine Faulders, Luis Martinez and Terrance Smith contributed to this report. 6park.com