Disease Outbreak and National Security: Drawing Lessons from the COVID-19 Crisis to Improve Emergency Response (Spring 2022)

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden have invoked statutory authorities to obtain medical equipment and stem the spread of the virus. Their actions provide an opportunity to reflect on how the current disaster response statutory framework treats healthcare crises and disaster response more generally. Indeed, under the existing federal statutory framework, disaster preparation is ingrained as a core priority for national security, whereas disaster response is not. Presidents Barack Obama, Trump, and Biden all invoked statutory authorities to address healthcare challenges and disease outbreaks that occurred under their watch. The different combination of authorities invoked by each reveals the extent to which the architects of the disaster response framework considered healthcare crises a threat to national security. I propose a new statute that would cement an understanding of disease outbreak as a national security threat and recognize that disaster response is as critical to national security as preparedness.