'Security Mom' and CNN Analyst Juliette Kayyem Knows Best

The first thing you notice about Juliette Kayyem is her distinctive voice: authoritative, assertive, but always reassuring. It's the sound of a well-informed friend, or, as she calls herself, a "security mom," passing on practical wisdom to help you rest easy and feel in control. It's also one of the reasons why the Harvard Kennedy School senior lecturer, who served in the Department of Homeland Security during the Obama administration, working on everything from the H1N1 pandemic of 2009 to the BP oil spill, has emerged as a go-to analyst for CNN and WGBH during the COVID-19 crisis. In between preparing for classes and her next broadcast, Kayyem took a break to talk politics, pandemics, and what we can all expect to happen next.

You're everywhere these days when I turn on the TV or the radio. How are you holding up?

I'm not even sure how to answer that question. I guess it's like, "I'm pandemic good." Because if you just say "good," it sounds weird.

What should we be worried about as we head into summer and fall?

I think it's just going to be more of the same. As we hit each of these arbitrary so-called deadlines, everyone will keep pushing back, asking, "When can we grease the wheels of commerce or education or recreation?" But it would be foolish to open up the entire economy until we've met certain goals…unless the federal government can get their act together and have a plan for how we can have meaningful lives without letting this virus take us over.

What would you like to see the feds do?

Well, I'm just looking at other countries. No one's doing this without strong testing and tracing programs, so that when they find cases, they can tell 100 people to stay put for a couple of weeks....