Time USA - 06.04.2020

24 Time April 6–13, 2020

Both ships are highly capable—70,000

tons, a thousand hospital beds and 1,200 med-

ical professionals in addition to the Navy sail-

ors who actually operate the ship. In fighting

the COVID-19 pandemic, their mission will be

to supplement the hospitals ashore, bringing

capability to bear so local medical facilities are

not overwhelmed. They are a good example of

what the military can do in the face of crisis.

What else can our 1.2 million active-duty

troops and the 800,000 members of our Na-

tional Guard and reserves do?

An important caveat: The military’s first

order of business must be to maintain its own

health and capability so we can ensure our

national security. We cannot have corona-

virus bring down our strategic nuclear forces.

Our Navy ships must be ready to sail on com-

bat missions.

But there is a

great deal the mili-

tary can do to help:

Medical

research a nd

development.

These are core

military func-

tions, particularly

in terms of bio-

warfare and bio-

defense. Military

expertise and sup-

plies of protective

gear can be criti-

cal. Fort Detrick in Maryland, for example, is

a center of biological capability for research

and operational deployment of equipment to

wield in a dangerous bioenvironment.

Industrial capability. There are 300,000

businesses working with the Department

of Defense in the Defense Industrial Base.

These are highly capable, innovative compa-

nies whose research, production and deliv-

ery capabilities can be tapped for everything

from vaccine production to manufacturing

face masks. The Defense Advanced Research

Projects Agency, for example, has advanced

research in many fields relevant to this effort.

The Defense Production Act, which Presi-

dent Trump says he may invoke, streamlines

the ability to shift production toward vital

materials.

Logistics a nd c ritical i nfrastructure.

Our Air Force is flying missions moving medi-

cal supplies from overseas to the U.S., while

the Army National Guard is trucking parts

across the country. The Navy’s aircraft car-

riers and large-deck amphibious ships can

provide medical overflow support, as the lat-

ter did during Hurricane Katrina. Military

capability in sanitation, electrical generation,

water purification and information technol-

ogy will be helpful.

Civil support to populations. As in New

Rochelle, outside New York City, the National

Guard (under control of the New York gover-

nor) has been conducting drive-through test-

ing, delivering food and water to non mobile

portions of the population and preparing sites

for possible hospital- overflow situations. This

is a classic and well- practiced function of the

Guard, particularly after natural disasters.

Law e nforce-

ment a nd

control o f civil

populations.

While active-

duty personnel

are appropriately

precluded from

conducting law

enforcement by

the Posse Comita-

tus laws, the Na-

tional Guard (when

under the direction

of governors) can

do so. This may be

important to enforce curfews, quarantines

and security of supply chains.

Border control. If the virus causes panic

in Latin America and the Caribbean, we may

need to establish stronger control of U.S.

borders to prevent a refugee surge from the

south. Border patrol and other civil agencies

could be overwhelmed, and the military can

provide a backstop to such efforts.

Information o perations. Our military is

expert at monitoring a wide variety of op-

erational scenarios, and the ability to gather,

process and analyze intelligence is highly rel-

evant in dealing with pandemics.

Our military—for which Americans col-

lectively pay $700 billion annually—can be

a significant part of the fight against this “in-

visible army.”

Stavridis was the 16th Supreme Allied

Commander of NATO

The hospital ship U.S.N.S. Comfort off the

coast of Saint Kitts and Nevis in Octo ber

TheView Opener

SHORT

READS

▶ Highlights

from stories on

time.com/ideas

Fear factor

Studies have shown

that fear really is

contagious, writes

Eva Holland, author of

Nerve: Adventures in

the Science of Fear. But

that’s not necessarily

a bad thing. “It’s a

survival mechanism,”

she explains, “and it

is designed not only

to help us survive as

individuals, but to

help our communities

survive too.”

Just the facts

There’s going to be a lot

of misinformation about

the coronavirus, warn

Nadav Ziv, a Stanford

undergraduate, and

Sam Wineburg, a

Stanford professor

and the author of Why

Learn History When It Is

Already on Your Phone.

Their first piece of

advice: “Distrust your

eyes—they’re easily

deceived.”

A case for

inclusion

Taiwan has been shut

out of global health

talks in recent years,

and its exclusion may

have cost lives in the

fight against COVID-19,

writes former Danish

Prime Minister Anders

Fogh Rasmussen.

“In the 21st century,

almost all of our major

challenges have

cross-border elements

to them: climate,

health, trade and

technology. We cannot

afford geopolitical

‘black holes.’”

SHIP: MORGAN K. NALL—U.S. NAVY/SIPA USA; YANG: ANDREW HARNIK—AP

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