CAFE Insider 03/24: Pandemic Ethics & Glimmers of Hope

In this special episode of CAFE Insider, “Pandemic Ethics & Glimmers of Hope,” Preet and Anne are joined by Juliette Kayyem. 

Kayyem served as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on her experience managing crises — including the H1N1 pandemic and the BP oil spill — she helps Preet and Anne break down all of the latest coronavirus developments and issues, including:

— The Trump administration’s delayed deployment of the Defense Production Act of 1950, what the action allows the government to do, and why it took so long. 

— The ethics around the government’s response to the pandemic, the adverse effects that social distancing will have on the economy, and the President’s apparent inclination to “re-open” the economy before the conclusion of the quarantine period recommended by public health experts. 

— The controversy surrounding the decisions of several United States Senators, most notably Senators Richard Burr and Kelly Loeffler, to sell significant amounts of stock around the time of a classified Senate briefing warning about the impact of coronavirus — well before the government’s public position reflected those private warnings. 

— The threat the pandemic poses to jails and prisons, and the steps states like New Jersey are taking to address the challenges to the criminal justice system.

— How long we can expect to remain in quarantine, and what the process looks like to get back to “normal.” 

We hope you’re enjoying CAFE Insider. Email us at Insider@cafe.com with your suggestions and questions for Preet and Anne.

REFERENCES & SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

JULIETTE’S CRISIS MANAGEMENT EXPERIENCE

• Juliette Kayyem’s biography
• “US Reaction to Swine Flu: Apt and Lucky,” New York Times, 1/1/10
• “BP Moves to Fix a Leak as Obama Warns of Damage,” New York Times, 5/2/10
• “New York’s Virus Count is Doubling Every Three Days,” New York Times, 3/24/20

DEFENSE PRODUCTION ACT 

• Congressional Research Service Report on the Defense Production Act, 3/2/20
• “What’s in Trump’s Executive Order on the Defense Production Act?” Lawfare, 3/20/20
• “Trump’s excuses for not using the Defense Production Act are wrong — and dangerous,” Vox, 3/23/20
• “Trump will use Defense Production Act to secure thousands of test kits,” Politico, 3/24/20

ETHICS

• Trump tweet about allowing people to return to work, 3/24/20
• “A Plan to Get America Back to Work,” Thomas Friedman Op-Ed, New York Times, 3/22/20
• Clip: “Boris Johnson orders UK into lockdown to fight coronavirus pandemic,” CNN, 3/23/20 
• “Trump says coronavirus cure ‘cannot be worse than the problem itself,’” New York Times, 3/23/20
• “DeWine: ‘We Save our Economy First by Saving Lives,” ABC Cincinnati, 3/24/20
• “Rand Paul Worked in the Senate for Days after COVID-19 Test,” Time Magazine, 3/23/20

BAILOUT

• “Trump on GOP’s $500 billion slush fund: ‘I’ll be the oversight,’” New York Magazine, 3/23/20
• “Top Senate Democrat and Treasury Secretary say they are near a stimulus deal,” New York Times, 3/24/20

INSIDER TRADING 

• STOCK Act Summary, GovTrack, 4/4/12
• Sen. Burr’s 2012 radio interview on his opposition to the STOCK Act, 2/2/12
• “Burr and Loeffler selling stocks as the market tanks is the reason some people think Senators shouldn’t own stock,” Vox, 3/20/20
• “Sen. Richard Burr, who sold stock before pandemic, voted in 2012 against banning insider trading for Congress, Washington Post, 2/20/20
• “Trump deflects questions about profiting from the presidency by reverting to his businessman mythology,” Washington Post, 3/23/20

CRIMINAL JUSTICE 

• “New Jersey will release low level offenders from jail to prevent coronavirus spread,” CNN, 2/23/20
• “‘Trapped on Rikers’: Jails and prisons face coronavirus catastrophe as officials slowly authorize releases,” Washington Post, 3/23/20
• “DOJ seeks new emergency powers amid coronavirus pandemic,” Politico, 3/21/20

THE PROCESS BACK TO NORMALCY

• “The Crisis Could Last 18 Months. Be Prepared,” Juliette Kayyem Op-ed, The Atlantic, 3/21/20
• “When will the coronavirus pandemic end? What scientists can say about life returning to normal,” Boston Globe, 3/21/20

OLYMPICS

• “I.O.C and Japan Agree to Postpone Tokyo Olympics,” New York Times, 3/24/20