A multitude of “preparedness exercise” documents, prepared by the government and top governing bodies, reveal aspects and minutiae of our future, nearly verbatim.
Before examining the documents and their scenarios, let us first define and explain continuity of government / continuity of operations and the effect that such wide-reaching governmental – and NGO – programs should have on the world.
“Continuity of government / operations [COOP] is a United States federal government initiative, required by U.S. Presidential Policy Directive 40 (PPD-40), to ensure that agencies are able to continue performance of essential functions under a broad range of circumstances.”
President Eisenhower issued an executive order in 1955 and COOP has been a part of government operations since, even building underground bases and bunkers, (Mount Weather, Raven Rock Mountain Complex, and Project Greek Island are three supposed named locations.)
Continuity of operations and government is run under the FEMA agency – which exists to “coordinate the response to a disaster” that overwhelms the government. This means that if anything were to happen – “natural or man-made” - the agency takes over governmental functions to ensure they continue to operate.
FEMA was a federal agency created by Jimmy Carter in an Executive Order (April 1st, 1979, Executive Order 12148).
After September 11, the Homeland Security Act of 2002 created the Department of Homeland Security, and as we know, DHS now controls law enforcement, disaster preparedness and recovery, border protection and defense. Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, in 2003, has since become part of DHS.
It has an annual budget of $18 billion.
What does this all mean? It means FEMA, through the “National Continuity Programs Directorate” (previously the ONSC – Office of National Security) – is responsible for developing and executing agency-wide continuity of government / operations plans.
They draft plans and conduct exercises based on “real-world” scenarios that they invent and imagine, in order to ensure agencies are prepared to act accordingly and can prevent further loss of life / mediate risk / continue functioning and so on.
“Since its inception, the newly created Department of Homeland Security has conducted at least three exercises to test continuity plans. The first, named "Forward Challenge '04", took place from May 12 to May 13, 2004, and included more than 40 government agencies…"Forward Challenge '06" was the third major exercise, and…reportedly involved nearly 4,000 government personnel.”
There exist a multitude of preparedness exercises for “Pandemic Influenza”, all of them pre-dating our current events, some by more than ten years:
1. Pandemic Influenza Continuity of Operations – FEMA 2006
2. “Determined Sentry” Continuity Telework Exercise Player Handbook – FEMA May 2013
3. Scenarios for the Future of Technology and International Development – Rockefeller Foundation, May 2010
4. Event 201 Exercise – Johns Hopkins, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Economic Forum, October 18, 2019
5. Continuity Guidance Circular – FEMA February 2018
6. Continuity of Operations (COOP) Pandemic Influenza Guidance – FEMA Memorandum 2006
7. NOAA Pandemic Influenza Plan – NOAA 2009
8. WHO consultation for the development of a global action plan for increasing pandemic vaccine supply, - WHO (World Health Organization) 2-3 May 2006
9. WHO Checklist for Influenza Pandemic Preparedness Planning – 2005
Whilst I have not looked for more documents, two questions stand:
If such a plethora of resources, agency time, and substantial amounts of money was spent on orchestrating exercises, drafting documents, and preparing for this exact, specific outcome – since 2005 and 2006, at least - how is it that global response has been so abysmal?
The WHO alone has such a long list of “influenza pandemic” preparedness documents, that a screen cap is attached to spare myself typing the list:
How was agency response and preparedness, across the world, not better equipped to handle the situation? With years of planning and pretending that such a real-world scenario had taken place, how could there be such an abysmal response effort throughout the world?
Why aren’t media outlets asking these questions and demanding responsibility and coherence?
But the most important question of all: No documents discuss or even mention prevention. Why?
If this outbreak was such a real and tangible possibility, where a variety of governmental agencies and foundations – the US Government, the WHO, Rockefeller Foundation, Bill Gates Foundation – expended millions to describe, and orchestrate through scripts, exercises and more, in minute detail the repercussions of an “unchecked influenza” – why do none of these documents discuss prevention?
You may argue, well, the goal of the documents was not to discuss prevention but to discuss mediating and handling the "threat".
But then, why have no plans been put in place, at least since 2005 or 2006 when some of these documents date back to, that would curb the possibility of a zoonotic disease?
Of course, you cannot prevent against a multiplicity of causes and it would be ignorant of me to state this; you can, however, take at the very least, some steps, to try and prevent against the leading one.
However, since 2005, not one step has been taken to mediate the risk that factory farming causes. Whilst this essay will not expand further on this statement, it suffices to state the following facts:
Factory farms use 80% of the world’s antibiotic supply.
The WHO has released numerous papers stating this fact:
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/07-11-2017-stop-using-antibiotics-in-healthy-animals-to-prevent-the-spread-of-antibiotic-resistance- this article is from 2017.
Antibiotics Overuse in Animal Agriculture:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4638249/(This study/article is from 2015)
“In the United States, progress in restricting antibiotic use in livestock has been slow at the federal level. The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA), a bill that would phase out the use in animal feed of eight classes of medically important antibiotics—aminoglycosides, cephalosporins, lincosamides, macrolides, penicillins, streptogramins, sulfonamides, and tetracyclines—has routinely stalled in Congress. The US Food and Drug Administration has finally issued guidance documents for industry to follow in volunteering to no longer sell their antibiotic products for “growth promotion” (effective December 2016). However, the routine use of identical or nearly identical antibiotic feed additives in the same dose range to prevent disease will still be permitted.”
The Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act (PAMTA) stands, since 2017, still at the stage of “introduced” in Congress
https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1587
If the expenditure of billions to agencies, and by agencies, that purport health and the desire to control, curb, and prepare for disasters, can result in intricately planned “handbooks”, with verbatim descriptions of our lives today - why then can there be no mitigation to ensure one simple bill is passed through congress? What does this failure, across the world, across organisations, before and during this pandemic, mean?
One simple bill which would exponentially curb the threat of a zoonotic disease, at least “at home”. Are we meant to believe governments, “foundations”, the WHO, and other agencies are even doing the jobs they claim to be?
Or are they instead content with hosting board meetings, and predicting events that will harm and destroy the lives of millions around the world, physically and mentally, as this virus has done, without taking or discussing preventive measures?
Is it financially viable for these organizations to want to promote moving away from animal factory farming? When its effects cause some of the most financially rewarding treatments? Statins and blood pressure pills are without competition the highest selling drugs. And they are all mostly completely unnecessary on a plant based diet as only animal products and its derivatives cause cholesterol (aside from perhaps being born with an uncommon Lipoprotein A – not relevant to the discussion but worth noting so it is clear that I do not make absolutist “claims” but endeavor to share unembellished facts.)
GPs Being Paid to Hand Out Statins – The Telegraph May 2018
Industry Sponsorship Bias in Research Studies – a Meta Analysis
Do statins really work? Who benefits? Who has the power to cover up the side effects?
https://www.europeanscientist.com/en/features/do-statins-really-work-who-benefits-who-has-the-power-to-cover-up-the-side-effects/
“Earlier this week, the Chair of the British Parliament Science and Technology Committee, Sir Norman Lamb MP made calls for a full investigation into cholesterol lowering statin drugs. It was instigated after a letter was written to him signed by a number of eminent international doctors including the editor of the BMJ, the Past President of the Royal College of Physicians and the Director of the Centre of Evidence Based Medicine in Brazil wrote a letter calling for a full parliamentary inquiry into the controversial medication”
The Statin Goldmine
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/8267876/Statins-the-drug-firms-goldmine.html
“Amongst the main players in the market include Pfizer, the world’s biggest drugs company; US-based Merck; and Britain’s second-biggest drug company, AstraZeneca.
Pfizer’s Lipitor was the world’s top-selling medicine last year, according to IMS, raking in sales of $13.3billion. AstraZeneca’s Crestor, which garnered $5.38billion in sales, is one of the company’s best selling medicines. Total sales last year of cholesterol-treating medicines - including statins - were $35billion, according to IMS.”
The finishing thoughts for part 1, before we examine some of the nine documents above in some detail, are these:
If they knew, in such exact detail as discussed within the documents, the repercussions that an unchecked virus would cause to our world, how could they not know to at least shut borders straight away?
Or maybe to ensure at least some action is taken against antibiotic use throughout the last few decades? They themselves list it as the leading danger of causing a pandemic.
Why is it that now, even after the horrific outbreak,there is still no discussion about this, or about prevention?
Are we meant to believe there is no possibility of discussing prevention? Curbing future outbreaks? Mitigation? Is there nothing to learn from this, so we can improve and prevent?
Health officials and all those involved in creating the scenarios in the above documents should be in outrage – as most of the vegan community and doctors are – about factory farming and its threat of causing - a now very real - pandemic. There should be "a call for reforms", should there not?
To at least ensure the previously listed antibiotics are immediately removed from use? If nowhere else, then at least at home?
None of this is taking place.
Why?
Is it just incompetence? Is there this high a level of irresponsibility across the board, across nations, across organizations? Though they claim to be perpetually involved in exercises to strengthen cooperation? Though they claim to have the best interests of us all?