WASHINGTON (BBN) — (Update on March 30, 2020 to add interviews with US Congressmen William Clay Lacy (D-Mo.) and Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) followings Cares Act vote on March 27, 2020) President Donald J. Trump will more than likely federalize individual US National Guard units as a means to create a united national and international policy to combat the spread of the Covid-19 virus, and limit the devastating economic fallout from the global pandemic.

[US Congresman William Lacy Clay (D-MO), US Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), US Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio), Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass) speak to Capitol Intelligence/BBN using CI Glass on President Donald Trump federalizing the US National Guard for coordinated response to the global Coronavirus pandemic at the US Capitol on March 27, 2020]

In Washington, DC there is a growing sentiment that the Coronavirus outbreak should be treated as a biological weapons attack due to unprecedented severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the lasting effect it will haves on the world’s largest economy, as well as its major trading partners in Europe, Canada and Asia.

Speaking to Capitol Intelligence following March 27 vote to approve Trump’s USD 2tln plus Cares Act stimulus package, influential members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) such US Congressmen William Lacy Clay (D-MO) and U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) agreed that President Trump needs to federalize the National Guard for a common national response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

President Trump has already federalized the National Guard in the worst hit states of New York, California and Washington State.

Speaking to Capitol Intelligence following the Senate vote on March 18, US Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said President Trump has the power to federally mobilize the state National Guard units under the Stafford Act.

[US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), US Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo) and US Senator Ed Markey (D-Mass. ) speaks to Capitol Intelligence/BBN using CI Glass on activating the US National Guard to address and mitigate the Coronavirus crisis following Covid-19 stimulus package vote at the US Senate. United States Capitol. Washington, DC March 18, 2020]

Blunt said the Covid-19 virus has similarities to a biological weapon attack in the disruption of economic activity and public health threat, despite that there is no indication of a terrorist or terrorist group behind the virus originating out of the Wuhan province in China.

In fact, President Trump mobilizing US National Guard units will allow the United States not to repeat the fatal mistakes of the European Union and disorganized and knee-jerk responses, such as Italy ordering a blanket of mass quarantines, while Germany following a more prudent, case-by-case approach.

The individual responses have been markedly different within the US, with the San Francisco area ordering Italian government-like quarantines and shelter in place, while Washington, DC has chosen to close restaurants and bars to limit public interaction.

But a high-profile public disagreement between New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio erupted when Cuomo overruled De Blasio’s attempt to copy San Francisco’s dire shelter in place order, a directive that only led to panic buying in Manhattan supermarkets.

Than, after overruling De Blasio, Governor Cuomo ordered a statewide stay in place order.

While Cuomo held daily press briefings on the crisis, President Trump had the US Army Corps of Engineers build a 3,000 bed emergency hospital in NYC’s  Javits Convention Center and sent the 1,000 bed US Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort to New York City.

[Veteran Affairs Administration Medical Center and Medstar Washington Hospital filmed Capitol Intelligence/BBN using CI Glass taking opposite approaches in Covid-19 prevention at their medical facilities in northeast Washington, DC . March 20, 2020]

In Washington DC, the Veterans Affairs Administration Medical Center is already pre-screening patients before they enter the facility while the public-private Medstar Washington Hospital is doing no curbside Covid-19 checks.

Medstar Health Executive Vice President and General Counsel Oliver M. Johnson II did not respond to emails requesting comment on the disparity.

Medstar is the capital’s leading Trauma 1 center and where than House Majority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise was air ambulances after nearly being fatally shot at baseball game in Arlington, Virginia.

Meanwhile, Kaiser Permanente has set-up a drive-through Covid-19 testing lab at its Capitol Hill medical center in Washington, DC.

The United States cannot to repeat the recent errors of the Italian government under Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte where the un-enforced quarantine in the cities of Codogno and Lodi in the outskirts of Milan led to the fatal overburdening of the country’s hospitals, with the Italian military now moving convoys of trucks carrying corpses from nearby Bergamo.

The US National Guard is America’s most effective rapid response unit available because it is made up of citizen soldiers, whose skill sets range from doctors and nurses, to policemen, carpenters and plumbers.

During the Hurricane Maria disaster in Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico’s National Guard took over leadership of the disaster response after US federal and Puerto Rico local agencies were either overwhelmed or unprepared. The Maryland National Guard effectively kept the peace with merely their presence during the Baltimore riots of 2015.

The already federalized Washington, DC National Guard and most other National Guard units are currently under standby orders and can be easily deployed to free up other first responders — police, firefighters and social workers —  just by their mere presence on city streets or. in front of emergency care centers.

These National Guard units, many of whom have served in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, are trained to interact with local and federal agencies as well as the Pentagon.

By treating the Covid-19 outbreak as an external biological weapons attack — rather than a health emergency — may be the only way to mobilize citizens, politicians and local and federal authorities in a common cause.

The US military, which has also been placed on standby, already has several contingency plans to deal with a biological weapons attack in the US and abroad.

[US President Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte filmed by Capitol Intelligence/BBN using CI Glass (Google Glass) during news conference in East Room of the White House. July 30, 2018]

The National Guard has near universal public approval of all citizens and is a trusted institution in a polarized United States where half the population has no trust or confidence in their elected officials.

President Trump can reach a bipartisan agreement with Congress in drafting orders on how the National Guard and US military forces can use their resources in combating the worst health crisis since the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, the worst National Security Crisis since 9-11, and the worst economic crisis since 2008.

The US Covid-19 response will also serve as the blueprint for NATO leadership as the European Union remains unable to find an effective response to the crisis. With the Stafford Act emergency powers, President Trump can invoke Article 5 on NATO treaty forcing all NATO members such as Canada, Turkey, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom to provide mutual aid in combating the Coronavirus crisis.

While only conspiracy theorists believe Covid-19 outbreak was an act of war, and Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian and President Vladimir Putin have not yet jailed or imprisoned any official or citizen for spreading disinformation regarding the Coronavirus on social media platforms such as Facebook or in official statements.

US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, is uniquely qualified to serve as the US, EU and NAFTA go between to enact in a common response, as the former US Army West Point graduate was also a successful entrepreneur and an elected Congressman from Kansas.

[US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to Capitol Intelligence/CI GCA using CI Glass on copying former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant successful mission to Uzbekistan with the Mississippi National Guard as part of the DOD State Partnership program at the National Governors Association’s Winter Meeting in Washington, DC. February 8, 2020]

A controversial Russian “humanitarian” mission to Italy ordered by President Vladimir Putin could also serve as a building block to re-establish US-Russian relations, a Russian intelligence source in Milan, Italy said.

The source noted the mission was led by a Russian military biological weapons defense unit and that the mission primary goal was to get “on the ground experience of the devastating impact the Covid-19 virus has had the world’s fifth largest economy and the second most important trading partner to Russia. after Germany.

“The mission goal was not to poke the eye of the US or NATO but get on the ground information,” the source said, adding.  “Russia is willing and open to enter knowledge sharing on strategies to combat Covid-19.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has it already brought families together, and can serve to bring the world’s representative democracies back to a common cause based on their shared values.

In this way the National Guard, US military can provide material and real-time aid to first responders so they can carry-out the directives of the Bethesda, Maryland-based National Institute of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Anthony Fauci and Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control (CDC) without undue interference.

By PK Semler in Washington DC and edited by Ellis Whitman in New York City.  For more information, please call +1-202-549-3399 or email pks@capitolintelgroup.com

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