Disaster will strike. Juliette Kayyem expects disasters; they are her specialty. She’s CNN’s go-to for disasters—their Senior National Security Analyst—and the Faculty Chair of the Security and Global Health and Homeland Security Projects at Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Learning to live in an age of disasters is the topic of her most recent book, The Devil Never Sleeps. How people respond to disasters, including climate disasters, is nuanced. “It’s not black and white—we have to minimize harm and be ready,” she says. But harm reduction, preparedness, and our national disaster response are all currently in flux because of shifting approaches, staffing and funding cuts, and other changes made by the Trump administration at several critical agencies: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Weather Service, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
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We spoke to Juliette, who served as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security and as Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Homeland Security Advisor, to try to make sense of this uniquely chaotic time regarding crises, readiness, and the future.
Why did you choose to write a book about disasters? Are environmental disasters different or worse than others?
The book is really about “the devil”—because the devil is always coming in terms of disaster management. I’ve been in the field a long time, and I started to see common traits across climate, pandemics, terrorism—you name it, any devil. I wanted to explore how we might better prepare for them. So it’s about the connective tissue among all these very different kinds of disasters, so that we can fail safer. And what I mean by that is we have to accept that these disasters—including climate disasters—will come, and we have to learn to minimize their impact.
What’s your current state of mind when it comes to how the United States is approaching and handling disasters—before, during, and after?
Obviously, Donald Trump has really changed the way we think about disaster management—from how he approaches FEMA to how he thinks about support systems and grants.
One thing I think and write about is how the idea of efficiency bumps up against preparedness. It’s hard to judge preparedness, right? That’s what we call the preparedness paradox: the better you are at being ready, the fewer harms there are, and then people wonder why you bothered getting ready. I don’t judge readiness as an efficient thing—I just judge it as an important thing. Unfortunately, a lot has changed under this broader focus on efficiency.
Are you personally prepared for climate disasters? How?
Yes, I am. The last thing I want to be is a fraud. I live by the mantra, “72 on you,” which means having enough stuff in the house to prepare my family for 72 hours. It’s nothing major—we don’t have any significant illnesses, and my kids are out of the house now, so I can adapt. But I always want to make sure I’m not panicked if something happens. The general rule is one gallon of water per person per day. When there were five of us in the house, that meant 15 gallons of water. That’s relatively easy to do.
Which climate book changed your life?
The Heat Will Kill You First by Jeff Goodell. It explores the severe impacts of climate change and rising temperatures on our planet, our cities, and our society. It focuses on this one thing—heat—and shows how it affects so many aspects of how our society is built, and how that society won’t survive increasing temperatures. We tend to focus on hurricanes and disasters—things that go boom—but heat and its slow rise are having a dramatic effect on populations.
Do you call yourself an environmentalist?
Yes, in many ways. I’m worried about climate and about climate destruction. I guess you could say I’m an activist—through my writing, my work, my research, and media appearances. I think environmentalism essentially defines people who focus on how the environment will impact how society is structured. So maybe even insurance people could be environmentalists.
What are your greatest climate fears for the future?
I’m really disturbed by changes at the National Weather Service and NOAA, especially with early alert systems. I talk a lot about what I call “the runway”—your crisis runway is the amount of time you have before a disaster hits. When your runway is short, that’s when you’re in crisis. I think about crises differently than some people do. I don’t use that word casually. For me, a crisis is when the hurricane hits, when the earthquake happens—it’s limited in time. So I focus on preparedness. NOAA and the National Weather Service help extend your runway by giving you time. Without that, more people will be put in harm’s way.
What’s one thing you think everyone should know about how disasters are approached and treated in America?
I want people to understand that success isn’t binary. We tend to see it as, if the bad thing didn’t happen, we succeeded; if it did happen, we failed. But with climate disasters in particular, we have to think about how we can prepare—ourselves, our communities, our states, our nation—to minimize harm. That’s really what The Devil Never Sleeps is about. I talk about things like situational awareness, early alert systems, and not having single points of failure.
What do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I want people to shift their thinking. Sometimes [the bad thing] does happen, and we have to focus on how to reduce the damage. That’s what my book is about—how to prepare, how to build systems that work, how to keep ourselves safer even when disaster strikes.
What do you still indulge in—your greatest extravagance—despite the climate crisis?
I don’t even think about it that way. I think if people become paralyzed by climate change and what’s happening, it doesn’t make them effective human beings. And to be an effective human being, you shouldn’t view things as indulgences or “not allowed.” I have a full life with family and friends. I still go out dancing. I like listening to live music. I run. I surf. None of that feels like an indulgence to me. I think our best contributions come when we feel whole as human beings. So stop worrying, start acting—and indulge a little bit too.
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