Make no mistake, Jan. 21 -- As deadly and as disruptive as the Coronavirus/Covid-19 pandemic is, this disease is a harbinger of even worse crises that could follow if a broader danger is not recognized. That danger is a new MAD, not the Mutual Assured Destruction of the Cold War and the existential specter of thermonuclear armageddon but Massive Attacks of Disruption.

Preventing or containing massive disruption to citizens, commerce and communities must become the overarching consideration of the 21st century. Why massive disruption is so insidious and threatening is that, as globalization, the diffusion of power and advanced technologies dramatically raised global standards of living, inadvertently, new societal vulnerabilities were cre...