While national security expert Juliette Kayyem told Boston Public Radio on Wednesday she's "cautiously nervous" about what's going on overseas, she is more concerned with the lack of planning from American health officials that may put us in more danger than the disease actually warrants as the flu is far more deadly than the newly identified Chinese coronavirus.

But the outbreak has not been contained and there are now confirmed cases in the U.S. What defensive moves have federal officials been making to minimize the impact of the disease here? Not much, according to Kayyem.

"There is now, under Bolton, he got rid of the Pandemic Preparedness Office, so there's no point person who sort of knows what the different (equities across government) are going to be," she said. "The homeland security adviser role has been demoted quite low, and my understanding is the current Homeland Security Adviser is leaving at the end of this month, funding for CDC and other entities has decreased over the Trump administration, so you don't have the preparedness."

Juliette Kayyem is an analyst for CNN, former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and faculty chair of the homeland security program at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

