'First Reactions Aren't Always the Best Reactions': Former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson says corporate leaders, like government leaders, must be willing to adjust nimbly to changes in a time of crisis.

• Author: Hall, April
• Position: THE AGE OF RISK: The First Response

Fewer than a dozen people have served as Secretary of Homeland Security since the department was added to the Cabinet in 2003. Jeh Johnson is among the longest-serving, heading the department under President Barack Obama from 2013 to 2017.

During his tenure, Johnson dealt with many of the same threats facing the U.S. today: cybersecurity, surges in illegal migration at the Southern border, foreign terrorism and a deadly virus--Ebola--in the fall of 2014.

Ebola never reached the scale of the novel coronavirus that is now gripping the country, but it informs his opinion of current events.

"I have to say that, as we speak and the coronavirus is taking hold in this country at very alarming levels, it reminds me that the thing that worries the public about lethal viruses and creates the most anxiety is you don't know where it is going to stop.

"You don't know how far it will spread, how many people be affected before we turn the corner. So there is that great unknown that causes a lot of anxiety and fear."

In Obama's first term, Johnson was general counsel for the Department of Defense, and he served as general counsel for the Air Force from 1998 to 2001. From 1989 to 1991 he was an assistant US. Attorney and in between all of that he has practiced corporate law at Paul Weiss Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.

In addition to his work as an adviser with Paul Weiss, Johnson served on the board of PG&E and currently sits on the board of defense contractor Lockheed Martin. He is expected to be voted onto the board of U.S. Steel at the company's annual meeting in April.

During an interview from his home in Montclair, N.J., Johnson shared his thoughts on how serving on a corporate board and serving in national security requires many of the same skill sets, giving retired military or other security officials an advantage as directors.

This interview was conducted in mid-March as many states were issuing stay-at-home orders in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. Johnson's answers are in the context of the relatively early days of the pandemic so powerfully affecting American life.

Some responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

What would you characterize as the largest risk that you faced while serving as secretary of Homeland Security?

The greatest risk for any national security official is that, in maintaining the balance we have to maintain between preserving the physical security of the public and preserving their civil liberties and values, we go too far in one direction versus the other. Preserving that balance is so critical, particularly in times like these. Also, reminding ourselves in government and positions of authority, even in corporate America, that the first reaction to a crisis is not always the best reaction. Sometimes you have to think about longer-term implications to action taken. The constant risk that anyone in national security faces is we overreact to something and push too far.

I'm sure current affairs remind you of the threat of Ebola. What do you think of how response to the coronavirus is developing?

At this point the coronavirus has had a much more significant impact on the United States, and analogies between the two are very often poor ones. Ebola and coronavirus are two different types of viruses emanating from two different parts of the world. But the lessons learned from any lethal virus--and this one's a pandemic--are that, again, first reactions are not always the best reactions and, in terms of government response, what is also important is...