U.S. ABM (anti-ballistic missiles-- the defensive kind that can knock ICBMs off track) expenditures/defenses as having been made under the classic mis-assumption that the enemy would hit us with so many weapons as we could conveniently afford to defend against, not with everything it had. I think something like that has happened with epidemic preparedness in this country-- everywhere, not just NYC. That and the last few epidemics kind of being duds as far as the U.S. was concerned probably had us a bit complacent. I'm sure that's why Trump at first downplayed COVID.