It turned out to be academic/advanced warning

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vkhu

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Can anyone tell me what the part in bold mean? I know the word individually but the meaning I know can hardly fit into this context


"the copy that was originally hand delivered by Paul Knight himself, the one marked “Eyes Only” for the director…it was found at the bottom of the desk of a clerk in the San Antonio field office of the FBI, three years after the Great Panic. It turned out to be academic because right after I was transferred, Israel went public with its statement of “Voluntary Quarantine.” Suddenly the time for advanced warning was over. The facts were out; it was now a question of who would believe them."
~Max Brooks, World War Z​
 

Nehushtan

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Re: “It turned out to be academic” / “Advanced warning”

turned out to be academic = turned out to be of little or no real importance

advanced warning = warning about an event given in good time for you to take action
 

Tdol

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Re: “It turned out to be academic” / “Advanced warning”

I'd use advance warning for that.
 
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