Welcome to the episode number 34 of the Authors of Mass Destruction podcast. My name is Natasha Bajema, aka WMDgirl on Twitter. I’m a fiction author, national security expert and your host for this podcast.

• If you’re interested in science & technology, in reading good fiction, or want to write fiction based on technology, you’re in the right place.
• Before we get started, a few notes:
  • The views expressed on this podcast are my own and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Department of Defense or the U.S. Government.
  • The AOMD podcast is proud to be part of the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network. Check us out at www.authorsontheair.com
  • If you enjoy my podcast and want me to keep it up, I hope you’ll become a patron for only two dollars a month at Patreon at www.patreon.com – p a t r e o n / natashabajema
• Personal Update: My apologies for not releasing an episode last week. I got caught up in travel preparations for my trip to DC and didn’t have time. On March 3, it’s been a year since I launched this podcast. I’m looking forward to another year, so I’m not going anywhere just yet. But I’ve found that twice monthly is a better pace for me.
• I’m currently working on planning for my Kickstarter campaign for a dark comedy stage play entitled American Doomsday and finishing up my technothriller novel, Rescind Order.
• My headline for this week is “The Strongest Evidence Yet That America Is Botching Coronavirus Testing,” published in The Atlantic on March 6.
  • In the past few days, I’ve heard a number of respected experts compare the coronavirus pandemic to the 1918 Spanish flu and predict that it will be widespread throughout the U.S. by the end of April. This is both due to the infectiousness and transmissibility of the virus.
  • But if you’re paying attention to the information coming from the Trump administration, you might have a rosier picture. Why aren’t there more cases, you ask?
  • Well, the answer to that question is likely, that there are many more cases, but we haven’t tested enough people.
  • This article goes into detail about the testing debacle from the flawed CDC tests, lack of sufficient quantity to stringent requirements for testing.
  • Testing plays a critical role in understanding the spread of disease and is essential for containing it.
  • The White House has promised that we can test everyone, but that’s not true. Our testing capacity as a nation is severely limited.
  • What should you do? Wash your hands. Make sure you have soap and hand sanitizer on hand. Stay home if you’re sick. Don’t go to the hospital unless you require emergency treatment.
• Let’s go to the interview with Dr. Frank Sauer, where we talk about a less immediately scary topic of autonomous weapons systems.