The CIA’s final response after more than a year and a half is what is known as a “GLOMAR response.” This is when an agency “can neither confirm nor deny the existence or nonexistence of such records responsive” to any particular request.

The question does arise if the CIA will blanket deny 100% of requests that come in on their director’s e-mail box, and this is just standard practice. In another case from 2019 (FOIA Case F-2020-00333), The Black Vault filed for a search of Haspel’s emails for the keyword, “Ciaramella,” which tied in to the alleged CIA whistleblower who exposed President Donald Trump’s phone call with the president of Ukraine which led to Trump’s impeachment trial. This case also yielded a “GLOMAR response,” but in that case, that outcome is somewhat expected, given his identity was not confirmed at the time of filing.

If it were standard practice, it does not seem reasonable that it would take more than a year and a half to offer a GLOMAR response. It would be expected that upon filing, for any keyword search on a CIA director’s e-mail box; it would just be immediately denied.

The Black Vault has numerous other cases currently still open for e-mails sent to or from Haspel and those cases will be posted upon completion.

The final response letter is below:

The post CIA Will Not Confirm or Deny If E-Mails on COVID or the Pandemic Exist Within Trump’s CIA Director’s E-mail Box first appeared on The Black Vault.

Pandemic influenza has had an impact on militaries and societies in the past, and will again, because the virus remains endemic worldwide and mutates rapidly, negating human immunity. Based on the lessons from the 1918 pandemic and the US National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza, the Department of Defense (DOD) should expand its implementation plan in order to enforce containment of a future pandemic and respond to humanitarian assistance needs of partner nations.

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Lessons from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Using Historical Examples to Inform the Department of Defense’s Response to the Next Pandemic, 2013 [43 Pages, 1MB]

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The post Lessons from the 1918 Influenza Pandemic: Using Historical Examples to Inform the Department of Defense’s Response to the Next Pandemic, 2013 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Background

Nearly 75 percent of all new, emerging, or re-emerging diseases affecting humans at the beginning of the 21st century are zoonotic (i.e. originated in animals). Notable reminders of how vulnerable the increasingly interconnected world is to the global impact of new emergent diseases include HIV/AIDS, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the H5N1 strain of avian influenza, and the 2009 pandemic H1N1 influenza virus. The speed with which these diseases can emerge and spread presents serious public health, economic, and development concerns. It also underscores the need for the development of comprehensive disease detection and response capacities, particularly in “hot spot” areas such as central Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and Latin America where a confluence of risk factors may contribute to disease emergence.

The Pandemic Influenza and Other Emerging Threats (PIOET) Unit supports two major lines of work: H5N1 Avian Influenza, and Emerging Pandemic Threats. H5N1 Avian Influenza: Since 2005, USAID has strengthened the capacities of more than 50 countries for monitoring the spread of H5N1 avian influenza among wild bird populations, domestic poultry, and humans, to mount a rapid and effective containment of the virus when it is found, and to help countries prepare operational capacities in the event a pandemic capable virus emerges.

USAID’s efforts have contributed to dramatic downturns in poultry outbreaks and human infections, and a dramatic reduction in the number of countries affected; with five of these countries (Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh and Egypt) as the primary reservoir of the virus. Although these successes are significant, the H5N1 virus remains a serious threat and sustained vigilance is required. Mindful of the need for vigilance USAID continues its efforts to build on its successes and further consolidate its programs in the highest risk countries. Emerging Pandemic Threats: As a complement to USAID’s work in H5N1, the PIOET Unit launched the Emerging Pandemic Threats program in 2009 to aggressively preempt or combat other diseases that could spark future pandemics.

This second line of work is composed of four complementary projects operating in 20 countries — PREDICT, PREVENT, IDENTIFY, and RESPOND—with technical assistance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The EPT global program draws on expertise from across the animal and human health sectors to build regional, national, and local “One Health” capacities for early disease detection, laboratory-based disease diagnosis, rapid response and containment, and risk reduction. At the country level, the EPT partners are working with governments and other key incountry and regional partners to enhance the understanding of viral distribution and key drivers of disease emergence—from deforestation and land use change to wildlife trade and livestock product demands.

This information, along with other EPT investments to strengthen country-level capacities for routine infectious disease detection and outbreak response, will be used to improve surveillance and response as well as risk-mitigation strategies.

These efforts will safeguard human and animal health and livelihoods in locations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America where new pandemic threats are likely to emerge. (Source: PIOET Fact Sheet / USAID)

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In March of 2016, I filed a FOIA to USAID for all documents pertaining to the accomplishments of this program. The FOIA request resulted in multiple responses and document releases. They are all below.

 First Interim Release, June 9, 2016 [2,200 Pages, 69MB]

 Second Final Release, Part 1, April 19, 2019 [2,122 Pages, 395MB]
 Second Final Release, Part 2, April 19, 2019 [2,119 Pages, 442MB]

About USAID

U.S. foreign assistance has always had the twofold purpose of furthering America’s interests while improving lives in the developing world. USAID carries out U.S. foreign policy by promoting broad-scale human progress at the same time it expands stable, free societies, creates markets and trade partners for the United States, and fosters good will abroad.

Spending less than 1 percent of the total federal budget, USAID works in over 100 countries to:

• Promote broadly shared economic prosperity;
• Strengthen democracy and good governance;
• Protect human rights;
• Improve global health,
• Advance food security and agriculture;
• Improve environmental sustainability;
• Further education;
• Help societies prevent and recover from conflicts; and
• Provide humanitarian assistance in the wake of natural and man-made disasters.

(Source: USAID Fact Sheet)

The post USAID’s Pandemic Influenza and Other Emerging Threats (PIOET) Program first appeared on The Black Vault.

A major concern among healthcare experts is a projected shortage of N95 filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) during an influenza pandemic. One option for mitigating an FFR shortage is to decontaminate and reuse the devices. Many parameters must be evaluated to verify the effectiveness of this strategy: biocidal efficacy, filtration performance, pressure drop, fit, and residual toxicity. The focus of this research effort was to evaluate the ability of microwave/steam energy, low-temperature moist heat, and ultraviolet germicidal irradiation at 254 nm to decontaminate H1N1 influenza virus loaded onto FFRs as either aerosols or droplets. Our data indicate that all three decontamination technologies provide > 4-log reduction of viable H1N1 virus –in 93% of our experiments, the virus was removed to levels below the method detection limit. These data are encouraging and may contribute to the evolution of effective strategies for decontamination and reuse of FFRs.

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A Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Study: Use of Energetic Methods to Decontaminate Filtering Facepiece Respirators Contaminated with H1N1 Aerosols and Droplets, June 2012 [11 Pages, 1MB]

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The post A Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Study, June 2012 first appeared on The Black Vault.

This paper explores pandemic planning efforts across federal and state jurisdictions and how the absence of collaboration could have major consequences upon the population of the United States. How adequate are state and federal pandemic plans, and what must be done nationally to address common shortfalls? The methodology used a hybrid approach by combining a secondary analysis of available data with a modified case study approach. Analyzing the individual state plans and HHS’ Pandemic Influenza Plan revealed common deficiencies, and disclosed distinct functional areas where stringent collaboration across multiple jurisdictions and functional areas would mitigate the deficiencies and provide a blueprint for potential development into an all-hazards national catastrophe plan. This resultant comprehensive plan would provide a solid template for all stakeholders to use in further development of their individual plans, and additionally provide a mechanism to propagate proactive planning efforts among international disaster preparedness partners.

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The Pandemic Pendulum: A Critical Analysis of Federal and State Preparedness for a Pandemic Event, by John R. Foley, March 2009 Master’s Thesis [69 Pages, 0.5MB]

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The post The Pandemic Pendulum: A Critical Analysis of Federal and State Preparedness for a Pandemic Event, by John R. Foley, March 2009 Master’s Thesis first appeared on The Black Vault.