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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
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PO1 Tony Holland Between the Coronavirus and Donald Trump we Have the Ultimate Doomsday.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
MAJ Ken Landgren
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Trade war, Impeachment, COVID-19, Economy, Riots. He does not know what he is doing. Trump is half the problem. The other half are the minions who follow him regardless of what he does and says. They claim he is a great president, but I want examples. Washington won a revolution. Lincoln kept the nation in tact and freed the slaves. FDR was instrumental in winning WWII. What has Trump done? The pandemic shows Trump's lack of leadership skills and a dysfunctional administration.

Three variables were at play for the pandemic. The first one is Trump said in an all knowing manner that the pandemic was not a threat. The second variable is Trump's toxic culture. Nobody wants to work for a toxic leader and will minimize themselves, especially when initiative is often scorned or overlooked. The last variable is hiring incompetent people. Trump hired a director for DHS with absolutely no experience. DHS is supposed to have a huge role in national disaster operations. It is responsible for coordinating and leading all the appropriate federal agencies. DHS was pretty much AWOL.

I personally would have done a better planning for the pandemic. I would have spent two days reading the National Response Plan and it's Biological Annex. I would have built a cell with LNOs from each agency and go over roles, responsibilities, and capabilities. I would go over the Situation, Mission, and Execution. Facts and assumptions. The execution would be in phases to include who performs key tasks with feedback from the tasked agencies. During this process, we are keeping states informed and coordinating with them. This is the rational approach. It promotes vertical and horizontal cross talk.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
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The federal government had a plan to deal with the pandemic but never used it. The response was random and chaotic.
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MAJ Ken Landgren
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I will tell you what went wrong:

A. Trump's narrative was the pandemic risk was insignificant until mid March.
1. This gave no sense of urgency to the federal government to plan and act.
2. He thought he was a medical genius and nobody wanted to confront him due to his toxic leadership and his promotion of an alternative reality.
3. He did quite a disservice to the country in regards to the risk of the pandemic.

B. The federal government had a plan. It is called the National Response Framework (NFR). It specifies agencies, roles, and responsibilities in disaster planning, execution, and mitigation. It also has an Annex specifically for biological threats and is very detailed:
1. The NFR states that HHS would lead the medical response and DHS would lead the joint federal response. However, HHS was giving out bits and pieces of information out. The director of DHS has absolutely no experience with disaster preparedness, thus it was until late March that it took on the role it was responsible to take.
2. The NFR specifies the proper risk assessment must be done early. That was not done.
3. The NFR states that the ramp of states and hospitals with tests, PPEs, Masks, and equipment must be done early to prevent running out of supplies. That did not happen.
4. Most of the planning occurred during or after calling a national emergency. It evolved into a gaggle of agencies instead of a coherent response. That's like planning in the middle of a battle.

C. The administration has become adversarial:
1. Kushner said the federal reserve supplies were not for the states.
2. Trump said he is not an ordering clerk.
3. Trump is pushing for states to open regardless of CDC guidelines.
4. States are now competing with other states and the federal government to get requisite supplies. There have been occasions that federal government taken supplies designated to states.
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