"I do not think this is something that the Chinese manufactured," Tracy Walder says when asked about the coronavirus in a recent interview.
Walder previously served as a CIA Staff Operations Officer helping to interdict biological terrorist attacks. "If a country is going to manufacture something on this large of a scale it is going to have a much higher kill rate and it is going to be something that is much harder to find a vaccine for," she explained.
"People try to push back on me and say they are trying to destroy our economy and I get that, but I actually did that at the FBI and that is not how they are trying to destroy our economy," Walder said, referring to her time as a Special Agent with the FBI after she had left the CIA.
As a FBI agent she worked on a counterintelligence case that involved a Chinese spy engaging in industrial espionage to steal American submarine technology.
"The coronavirus is going to infect a lot of people," she said, pointing out that most of them will have mild or no symptoms but, "honestly, those are the people who are most problematic...those are the folks spreading the disease."
She points out that quarantines can help, but not having enough test kits is the issue. From her point of view, if we could test everyone who would know who the carriers are and have them individually quarantine themselves.
"This whole panic buying of toilet paper and household necessities to be honest with you it is just deeply upsetting as a member of humankind that people are doing that," she said. "I think that is an overreaction." However, she agreed with many of the social distancing measures the government has called for. "The whole point of the quarantine is to keep the hospitals free so that when folks who are 70 and above and need respiratory assistance in a hospital can get it."
"What I'm not understanding is that you are canceling big events and things like that, sports games," she said before pausing. "Why are airplanes still flying? That's where I'm a little confused. It is hard to take, for me, a lot of this seriously when rational decisions are not being made. If you want to shut down the NBA and all of that I get it but then why are we still allowing air travel? It makes absolutely no sense."
But Walder said from our government, "unfortunately we are not getting clear messaging. That's a problem and it stokes a lot of people's fears."
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Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
