PerspectiveNational Security in the Age of Pandemics
For the first time since the Second World War, an adversary managed to knock a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier — USS Theodore Roosevelt — out of service. Only this time the enemy was a virus, not a nation-state. Gregory D. Koblentz and Michael Hunzeker write in Defense One that the fact that we “lost” the ultimate symbol of American military power to an invisible opponent should send shock waves through the national security community, because in its race to prepare the country for renewed great power competition with Russia and China, it has largely ignored a potentially greater threat: pandemic disease.
For the first time since the Second World War, an adversary managed to knock a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier — USS Theodore Roosevelt — out of service. Only this time the enemy was a virus, not a nation-state. Gregory D. Koblentz and Michael Hunzeker write in Defense One that the fact that we “lost” the ultimate symbol of American military power to an invisible opponent should send shock waves through the national security community, because in its race to prepare the country for renewed great power competition with Russia and China, it has largely ignored a potentially greater threat: pandemic disease.
They add:
The fate of the Roosevelt should serve as a wake-up call about the threat that pandemic diseases pose to national security. At best, they wreak havoc on military readiness by causing service members to fall ill and diverting units to reinforce our nation’s easily overwhelmed public health infrastructure. Rogue actors can also be expected to take advantage of the chaos and confusion.
Yet these risks pale in comparison to the worst-case scenarios. History tells us that pandemic diseases can easily kill more Americans than war. If current projections prove accurate, we could lose more Americans to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19 than we lost in Vietnam, the Korean War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, combined. And there are far deadlier superbugs than the one attacking the globe right now. The 1918 flu pandemic killed at least 40 million people—roughly four times as many soldiers perished in the world war raging at the time.
Unfortunately, the government has not yet treated this threat with the same sort of urgency and focus that it has lavished on great power competition. In fact, National Security Advisor John Bolton sent a clear signal about the administration’s priorities when he downgraded the office in the National Security Council dedicated to pandemic threats. Far from an anomaly, the move was consistent with the Trump Administration’s overall approach to pandemic preparedness: short-sighted and underfunded.
