In 1985, at a summit meeting between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the president of the Soviet Union, Reagan asked Gorbachev, "What would you do if the United States were suddenly attacked by someone from outer space? Would you help us?" To which Gorbachev replied, "No doubt about it." Fast forward to 2020 to find we're under attack by the coronavirus.

It didn't take a swarm of cruise or anti-ship ballistic missiles, or a salvo of submarine launched torpedoes to disable the USS Theodore Roosevelt. These are the most potent weapons arrayed against our naval forces today. It took a new and deadly virus, which some people allege came out of a lab in China.

Fortunately, as of this writing, we are not yet in a shooting war with China, or any other adversary capable of launching carrier killer weapons against our naval forces. One of the principal roles of the US Navy is to ensure that international sea lanes remain open for all nations to share.

A smart adversary will not engage in a full frontal attack against your strengths. They will probe for weaknesses and attack there. Was the coronavirus manmade or did it jump from bats to humans? The jury is still out but we will learn the truth in due time.

In the interim, how do we protect ourselves against this new enemy? Do we quarantine all crew members for at least 2 weeks before embarkation like we do with astronauts on the International Space Station? And what if a new virus comes along? How do we defend ourselves against these new unknowns? We had warnings, which were ignored, aggravating the crisis we face today.

The United States has decided to defund the World Health Organization, with good reason. Until China reforms its reporting mechanism and closes its wet markets, such onslaughts will continue. Wet markets in China have long been known to be the sources of viruses that have plagued the world for years. The WHO needs to be run as an apolitical organization and vet out claims made by member states independent of the local authorities, particularly those states that have been bad actors. Taiwan has shown admirable behavior and is ahead of the curve in its response to the current crisis. Its health care system also happens to be one of the best in the world. This is no coincidence.

Going forward, the United Nations will need to be given greater authority and the right to investigate public health threats wherever they may exist. This will be the price of entry to any country seeking to engage in trade with the world beyond their borders. This can be enforced with cryptocurrency technology, tagging all transactions, whether they be airline tickets or soybeans as people and products travel worldwide.

The human loss and the loss to the US economy far exceeds what we suffered from the 911 attacks of 2001. What plans do we have in place to ensure this doesn't happen again? Greater worldwide cooperation is the solution. Once we have this in place, we will no longer need expensive weapons systems to protect ourselves from ourselves and we can go back to worrying about asteroids slamming into the earth. What wiped out the dinosaurs can also wipeout mankind.