I have Issues with this story. And this is not the first one I have read like this, either. All the stories seem on the surface to be good, but then I get to the practical part, and my flags go up:

"...Jose Camacho, who heads the Texas Assn. of Community Health Centers, said his group was trying to purchase a small order of just 20,000 masks when his supplier reported that the order had been taken..."

I've worked in supply chain logistics for a long time. Here's how this works:

1. Jose goes to MyMedicalSupplier.com

2. Inputs his username and password

3. Goes to the product catalog, and selects items to buy

4. Places the order. Gets confirmation.

5. Automated systems charge the card on file (or P.O.)

6. Warehouse gets a packing order, packs the supplies, ships

7. Shipper picks up package, and eventually delivers.

But Jose is saying that after Step 5, he gets notification from the supplier that the order has been redirected somewhere else.

For that to happen, someone had to see/know that Jose had placed the order, who Jose is, and who he is buying for.

Without going off the rails and conspiracy looniness about ecommerce site security, etc., that means that a human at the medical supplier is in touch with the Federal Government, and informing them of the purchase BEFORE fulfilling the order.

Almost all of these systems are mostly automated - payment, order issuance, packing list creation, warehousing, etc. - and interrupting the flow of the process would break some system in the chain. For example, at my company, someone enters an order into our CRM system, the order is automatically transferred into our ERP system where the card is automatically charged, and a packing list is automatically printed at our fulfillment center.

If someone stopped the order after it was entered into CRM and before it got into the ERP system, the systems would literally shit the bed... the CRM would freak out because it didn't get ANY charge info back or confirmation of the packing list being created, because it is hard-coded to expect these things.

If the order was stopped in the ERP system, same thing. The CRM wouldn't get confirmations, automated email generation would hang, and the ERP system itself would shit the bed when generating daily or weekly reports, because there would be incomplete orders in a "middle state" that is technically impossible for the system to be in.

So. Back to Jose and his order being snarfed up by "someone".

HOW?

Does the Trump Administration actually have a mole at EVERY medical supply company that is secretly telling the IG about every tiny order, allowing the IG and their team to do their "data analysis on population and need in the area of operations where the customer is ordering from", and then either letting the order go, or redirecting it elsewhere?

And was Jose's account credited back the charge? Or are they out the money?

And how did the medical supplier print a new pick list, manifest, and bill of lading, if there is no traceable order in the system for where these supplies are being re-routed to?

And what/who did the medical supplier charge for the supplies? A card? (If so, whose name in on the card?) An account on file? (If so, which account?)

There is some serious journalistic diligence missing here.

Administrative details are where all nefarious plans fall apart, and where nogoodniks are exposed.

And I don't see the pertinent details here... just a "magic hand" somehow reaching into the systems at the medical supplier and mysteriously teleporting equipment out of a warehouse to an undisclosed location.

I wanna see the bill of lading. The invoice. That shit has the gory details I want to know.