>> brennan: i'm margaret brennan in washington. this week on "face the nation," the country approaches a grim milestone of 100,000 coronavirus deaths, as all 50 states begin to ease restrictions. americans with quarantine fatigue head outside on this memorial day weekend, and the president calls for return to normal. for the first time since early march, president trump returned to his normal, playing golf on the weekend, a signal to the country it is safe to leave home and america is back in business. >> president trump: this is a country that is meant to be open, not closed. >> brennan: earlier in the week, the president and vice president hit the road trying to sell that message to the country. >> all 50 states have begun to reopen their

economies. >> brennan: in washington, the president says he is planning to host a summit of world leaders at the white house in just two weeks, even as the administration describes the region as one of the worst in the country for positive covid-19 tests. and he revealed he is taking hydroxychloroquine, a drug that the f.d.a. has warned that can cause heart problems and is linked to an increase in deaths. >> president trump: i had a two-week regimen of hydroxychloroquine. and i'm still here. i tested positively towards negative, right? no, i tested perfectly this morning, meaning i tested negative. >> brennan: the conflicting messages continue. our guest, national securi advisobert o'brien, andormer f.d.a. commissioner scott gottlieb. the administration signals another round of relief money is likely.

we'll ask eric rosengren how quickly congress needs to act. and as the summer travel season kicks off, should americans feel safe in hotels? the c.e.o. of the world's biggest hotel co conglomerist weighs in. all of that and more just ahead on "face the nation." ♪ >> brennan: good morning, and welcome to "face the nation." on this sunday before memorial day, we honor the men and women who have sacrificed their lives for our country. we also remember the thousands of our fellow americans who have died in this terrible pandemic. this morning "new york times" filled its entire front page with the names of victims, a statement that is even more powerful when you realize this is

just one percent of all u.s. lives lost. as of today, more than 96,000 americans have died from the virus, 1.6 million have been infected, and nearly 40 million people have filed for unemployment in the past two months. we begin in the nation's capital with cbs news national correspondent chip reid. >> reporter: good morning, margaret. across the country, people are taking at least some steps to get back to normal. but with infections still increasing in 14 states, public health experts are worried this weekend americans might be getting totoo much of a good thing. from a lake party in missouri, to the crowded boardwalk in maryland, americans were ready to hit the beach, and the feeling echoed across the nation. sn aimiteds are now capacity, 38 have now reopened restaurants to

safe distance dining, and 26 have fully or partially opened their beaches. but with scenes like this in california this weekend, public health experts are urging people to follow the basic rules. >> it's very important to maintain that six-feet distance and very important to have your mask with you. >> reporter: white house health advisor dr. deborah birx is also concerned about several emerging covid-19 hotspots. >> you can see the top three states are maryland, the district, and virginia. >> reporter: and she also mentioned nebraska, illinois, and minnesota. on this sunday, public health experts are hoping, and perhaps praying, that houses of worship will practice social distancing after president trump said this on friday. >> president trump: some governors have deemed liquor stores and abortion clinics as essential. but have left out churches and other houses of worship. it's not right. so i'm correcting this injustice and calling trc onads and at rter: but not.

airports is down dramatically from previous memorial day weekends, and that's good news to new york governor andrew cuomo. >> governor: i know people have been cooped up, and i know there is tremendous energy to get out. you have to remain vigilant. >> reporter: that advice to remain vigilant is especially important right here in washington, d.c., where churches like this one are closed, and for the most part the rest of the city is still on lockdown. margaret? >> brennan: chip reid, thank you. we go now to london and cbs news senior foreign correspondent elizabeth palmer. >> reporter: margaret, this pandemic is not winding down. the world health organization said that wednesday marked the largest single increase in the number of new cases, 106,000 of them, most in poor countries with the epicenter in

latin-america. once again, brazil tops the list. it is second only to the u.s. in total deaths. and now the virus has traveled into the remote communities of the amazon, where health care and people's health is already fragile. in mexico, too, the death rate just keeps climbing. but ominously for every victim that dies, eight more fall sick. helicopters ihospitals in some s can't cope. by contrast, in china, where it all started, there were zero new cases yesterday. earlier in the week, president xi said that china will donate $2million to help fight covid in africa. a smoke xe screen says u.s. officials. the administrationid

the w.h.o. was so dependent on china, it wouldn't back an investigation to the virus. they were dealing with more anger on the streets of hong kong, where pro-demonstrators are back protesting after beijing announced a new law to stifle political descent. around the world, two billion muslims are celebrating eid, but this year thanks to covid, it will be a subdued, and in many places even lonely, affair. meanwhile, the new normal is social distancing. using reminders that range from the sublime to the ridiculous. and finally, margaret, just a short time ago, the chinese foreign minister said that political forces in the u.s. were pushing american-chinese relations towards what he called a new cold war. >> brennan: elizabeth palmer in london, thanks.

we go now to the white house and president trump's national security advisor robert o'brien. good morning to you, ambassador. >> good morning, margaret. great to be here. >> brennan: on friday, dr. debra birx, your colleague, said d.c. has the highest positivity rate in the country. have all of the g-7 leaders agreed to come to washington? and is it advisable to do that? >> well, the g-7 summit, if it happens in person, and we think it will, will take place at the end of june, and i think we're getting close to the peak, and if the situation permits it, and we think it will, we would love to have the g-7 in person. i think the g-7 leaders would love to meet in person. so the president extended the invitation, and so far we've got a great response. we'll make sure everybody is tested and it is a safe environment. >> brennan: end of june -- >> no, i think we would be

looking at the end of june because of the logistics of bringing in so many world leaders and their security details and planning for the event. i think it would be later in june. it is a chance for the leaders of the democracies, of the free enterprise countries, to get together and decide how to get their economies reopened and how we can work together to make sure we all come out of this covid crisis and bring back health and peace and prosperity to our peoples. >> brennan: we learned this week, because the president shared it, he has been taking hydroxychloroquine along with zinc and azithromycin. is there a national security resk for the risk for e commander in chief to be taking a medication that the f.d.a. warns the public there is risk of having heart problems. and are there other drugs that the president is taking? >> i'm not aware of any other drugs that the president is taking. but he is in close consultation with his physician, a navy physician, who is an

outstanding doctor. i can tell you with the anti-malaria drugs -- i've taken them with no side effects and no problems. so i think the president is under great medical care with walter reed and dr. connelly here at the white house. i think he is doing the right thing that he and his physician thing are good for the president. the guy has got more energy than anyone i've ever seen. he works 16, 18 hours a day. i don't see any change in his strong performance as a result of any health regimen he is undergoing. >> brennan: if you look around the world right now, brazil has a spiking rate of infection from covid-19, and we know dr. fauci says he is very worried about that. are you going to cut off travel from the southern hemisphere? >> we're concerned about the people in the southern hemisphere and certainly the people of brazil. thaifethey're having a rough go.

one of the things i want to say in preference, i want the american people to know how much the president cares about them and the 9 1,000 people that have been lost, parents, grandparents, friends, first responders, frontline workers in the health care industry. we mourn their loss. as far as travel to brazil goes -- and i'm sorry for the long intro to that -- i think we'll have a decision today with respect to brazil, just like we did with the u.k. and europe and china, and we hope it will be temporary. but because of the situation in brazil, we'll take every step necessary to protect the american people. >> brennan: it sounds like you are looking to cut off tral froal th so now, i'd say brazil, and we'll take a look at the other countries on a country by country basis. >> brennan: i know travel from europe to this country wasn't restricted until mid-march, and china earlier. the national security council has been reportedly pushing for travel from europe to be

cut off earlier than it was. do you regret not being more aggressive in that? >> one of the things we did, and a story that has not been focused on, when we raised this issue really for the first time, really vehemently with president trump on january 28thh respect to the china travel ban, within two days, even though many of his advisors urged against it, the president made a hard decision and cut off travel from china, within two days of learning it was a serious, serious outbreak. and that saved countless lives. what we didn't know at the time -- by the way, after cutting off travel from china, i called my cunterparts and urged them to take similar action. we didn't realize that the chinese would continue to allow folks to travel from wuhan, even though they cut off travel within china, they allowed those folks to travel from china to europe and to seed the disease in europe and then have it come from a back door into the united states. in perfect hindsight, when we realized the europeans hadn't cut off travel, and

we don't know at the time but later learned that the chinese allowed folks to continue from travel from wuhan to europe, sure, it would have been better to cut it off earlier. but i want to focus on the hundreds of thousands of lives saved because president trump made a decision that was entirely courageous when the i.c. and others didn't realize this was a health risk. >> brennan: the president has said he wouldn't shut down the country if there was is a relapse. what plans are you doing? are you setting up infrastructure for mail-in ballots? >> we have a very strong process. the elections -- the mail-in elections is a physical attacks on the sansanctity ofday, the ballots and vting.we're ngve

ou will haves rus. we want to make sure we have a free and a fair election. that election is going to take plce on election day, no question about it. we want to make sure americans can go to the polls safely. and we'll do everything we can to make sure that happens. at the same time, we want to avoid voter fraud and misapprehension about the safety of the election among the american people. >> brennan: mail-in ballots may be a necessity in terms of where we are health-wise. what planning are you doing now to prepare us for the fall? have you stockpiled protective gear? are you considering stockpiling drugs, like remdesivir? >> we're working to produce as much remdesivir as possible, and the company, gilead is doing a great job. we'll have 100,000 ventilators, and they're available, and we're making masks. the president has been to several companies that are now domestically producing

masks, so we're not depending on the chinese communist party for p.p.e.s. >> brennan: if china develops the vaccine before the u.s. does, would it be made available to the american public? >> i think we're going to develop a vaccine first. there is a chance, and it has been reported that the chinese are part of espionage, but they've got a many, many year history of stealing american technology, and i wouldn't be surprised if they did that with the vaccines. i think we're moving out very quickly on therapies and a vaccine. one of the things the president has said, if we have a vaccine, we're going to share it with the whole world. this is a virus unleashed by china. y they'll do a show like they did with chernobyl. the chinese knew this was happening in november,

december, january, and we're getting false information -- >> brennan: local authorities or are you accusing beijing? >> we don't know because they kicked out all of the reporters and they won't let investigators come in. it doesn't matter if it was a local chinese government or the communist party of china. this is a real problem and it cost many, many thousands of lives in america and around the world because the real information was not allowed to get out, and it was a coverup, and we'll get to the bottom of it eventually. but it is hard to do in a communist, closed society. >> brennan: ambassador o'brien, thank you for your time. >> thank you, margaret. >> brennan: "face the >> brennan: "face the nation" will be back in one minute with former f.d.a. commission dr. scott gottlieb.

>> brennan: we go now to west port, connecticut and dr. scott gottlieb. good to have you back with us. >> doctor: thank you. >> brennan: the president just tweeted that cases, numbers, and deaths are down across the

country. what do you think? >> doctor: well, look, this isn't contained yet. that doesn't mean we can't go out and start doing things, get back to some sem blensemblence of a life. when you look across the country, you see hospitalizations going up, florida, virginia, wisconsin, ohio, arizona, and you saw hospitalizations coming down about three weeks ago, and in the last week you're starting to see them pick up. that shouldn't be surprising. fuy contain it until wehiswe mho get to a vaccine or better therapeutics. >> brennan: if people are careful they can take a little bit of a breather. what can you do now that you couldn't do a few weeks ago? >> doctor: well, look, we think there is going to be a seasonal effect here.

meaning when we get into the summer, particularly july and august, we should see cases start to come down. and so people can start to go out and start to enjoy life, over the course of the summer, but we should still tri try tcial distance. try to group your shopping to one time a week or two times a week instead of going over every day. practice good hygiene with your hands. so if we do that on a broad basis, it could have a big impact on spread. but the virus is likely to continue to circulate. we're likely to have a slow burn through the summer and face renewed risk and the fall, that we're going to have bigger outbreaks and potentially epidemics in certain states and cities. we need to be focused on getting the tools in place to prevent that in the fall. >> brennan: the president went golfing yesterday in a part of virginia that is still technically under a

stay-at-home order. and he is not wearing a mask. and he went to a state that had relaxed restrictions too soon. do you see this public messaging as dangerous because it is not signaling the caution you are saying, and it is making it look like things are back to normal. >> doctor: well, look, i think governors and elected leaders should be setting a strong example on what kind of behavior we should engage in. if we are more careful in what we do, i think it will facilitate a successful reopening and getting back to the important things, getting back to the economic activity. if we cut down a little on the social interaction and social activity, things we don't necessarily need to be doing, we can focus more on the things we should be doing to try to restart the economy. i would be messaging trying to put in place qatar practicegood practices. we don't want to see a bump up, and will we have

a resurgence. i hope not. then we face a fall where we had the small burn during the summer that never really went away, and we face risks as we get back to school, back to college campuses and get back to work for fully in the fall. >> brennan: all '01 50 states are opening partially. can they stay open in resurgence? the president said he won't shut the country down again? >> doctor: i think what we need to have in the fall is a way to track where the outbreak is. i know many people in the white house are working on this, kevin hassart is working on trying to get more data feed, to build a tool to identify where the hotspots are. so we don't have to close down the entire economy or close down an entire state. getting testing to at risk

communities and at risk people. and you might see local school districts closed down but not an entire state. the goal is to get good information so we can target it so we don't have to do the national or even state-wide shutdown. that will depend on good screening, the ability to go in and target people and isolate people have the infection, whether it is in a local factory or local community. >> brennan: do you agree with the national security advisor that the u.s. will get a vaccine before china does and share it with the whole world, as he says? >> doctor: i think we will. the chinese have four vaccines in clinical development. one is an anti-viral platform. and the data came out last week and it didn't look overwhelmingly strong. they have three other vaccines based on old technology, activated

virus, and they will provide lower levels of immunity than the u.s. is working for. i think we'll have a better vaccine and i think we'll have it sooner, based on where we are. >> brennan: the health and human services secretary was with us last week and they're whittling it down to a handful of vaccines. do you know which vaccines are most promising? >> doctor: the two that are the furthest along are the one by oxford which is partnered with astrazenaica. i'm on the board of pfizer, and they have phase one and face two. all look promising based on public statements they made and some the preliminary evidence they put out. >> brennan: we hope to

see that information about progress soon. dr. gottlieb, thank you very much, as always, for your analysis. >> doctor: thank you very much. >> brennan: we'll be right back with a lot more "face the nation." "face the nation." so stay with us. 's largest gig-speed network.

>> brennan: we want to make sure you don't miss another significant development from this week. a gunman opened fire at naval air station corpus christi, wounding one member. the f.b.i. declared it was terrorism-related. it came days after they confirmed the shooter in another naval base attack six months in pensacola had been in contact with al-qaeda in yemen. the u.s. remains a top target for terrorist organizations all around the world.

>> brennan: we'll be right back with the head of the federal reserve bank of boston and the president of wyndham hotels group, all ahead on "face the nation."

♪ >> brennan: welcome back to "face the nation." we learned this week that nearly 40 million americans have filed for unemployment benefits over the past two months. and while congress has passed a number of historically large aid packages, the chairman of the federal reserve has warned more help may be needed. eric rosengren is head of the boston federal reserve, one of the 12 banks that make up that system. good morning to you. >> good morning, margaret. >> brennan: now, you are program, the mrt poamn days now. this is about $600 billion worth of four-year loans for mid-sized companies so they can get credit. when do you expect that money to start going out

the door? >> i think money will go out over the next two weeks. as you highlight, this is a program that is just starting up, so we're expecting to have the loan documents up this week. we then have to register the banks and then we're going to be ready to start issuing the loans. >> brennan: do you expect this to be up and functioning, you said, within the week, but to be perhaps a little less rocky than the p.p.p. program, the paycheck protection plan that congress had rolled out? >> it is a very different program than the p.p.p. program. the p.p.p. program was primarily a grant program. this is a loan program. beve been working on itard, ad. any indication of what kind of industries or companies will come to you to ask for this money? >> the way the program is designed is that businesses that have no problems will probably find it more

cost-effective to go directly to banks. firms that are having great difficulty, banks have to co-invest with us, and the banks may not be willing to do that. what we're really looking for is firms that were doing fine going into the end of last year, but because of the pandemic have now been significantly disrupted. so the kinds of firms that we're expecting to see would be the firms that have been affected by the pandemic. that includes hotels, restaurants, but it also includes many manufacturing firms that had to shut down either because of state mandates or because of concern for their workers. >> brennan: is the aim to avoid large-scale bankruptcy? >> the goal is to make sure that many of these businesses are able to make it to the point where we no longer have community spread and where individuals once again feel comfortable buying goods and going out in public. >> brennan: all of us want to know exactly when that might be. as for the jobless rate in

this country, the white house says they expect double-digit unemployment through november. what are you looking at? is it really going to be double-digit unemployment until there is a vaccine? >> unfortunately, i think it is likely to be double-digit unemployment until the end of this year. and getting down to the low levels of unemployment that we saw the end of february, either takes a vaccine or another medical innovations th that make it much less risky to go out. industries like retail, hotels, transport are all industries that consumers have to be comfortable. so it is not just opening up the businesses, but consumers have to be comfortable going out and shopping and going back on planes and into hotels. >> brennan: absolutely. there is a debate in congress about whether to extend the enhanced

unemployment benefits, that people, if they can get thet processed, have been receiving. those would expire in july. from where you sit, do you think that kind of extra money should be extended? >> i think we need a physical and monetary policy because double-digit unemployment is causing a much more severe outcome than labor markets over time. it has to be up to congress. but i do think we'll need an additional physical policy. >> brennan: an extra $60600, does that make a significant difference? >> it certainly makes a significant difference for low and moderate income individuals. that is certainly one of the ways you can provide support. >> brennan: blacks, hispanics, women have been disproportionatesly hi by the economic fallout

righted to covid-19. how much is widening the income in equality that preexisted this? >> as your question highlights, this is a serious problem. low and moderate income individuals were more likely to be put into unsafe situations. the reason is: they're more likely to be in dense living, more likely to be taking subways, buses, trains for mass transit, and they're more likely to be hourly workers in industries that require contact with other people. so for that reason, the health outcomes are much more at risk, and also the economic outcomes arh more at risk. work at home, and thou can tend to be high-inrkers. for many low-income workers, they have to be able to go into their job in order to be able to do the job. and consumers are worried about face-to-face contact. so, again, retail, hotels, restaurants are all being

impacted. until everybody is comfortable going into those restaurants and hotels, it is going to just take a little bit longer to get back to full employment than we otherwise would like to see. >> brennan: new england, where you are, is one of the hardest-hit regions of the country. 18% of the homeowners, ene a risk of missing their monthly rent and mortgage payments. w do you avoid spiraling into a financial crisis? >> i think at least for the mortgages, banks are well-positioned in terms of having plenty of capital, being well-diversified. i think the actions that the federal government has taken are designed to avoid that. we lowered interest rates to zero. we bought lots of mortgage-backed securities and treasury securities, and all these facilities are designed to make sure there continues to be a flow of funds to households and businesses at reasonable rates.

>> brennan: are we nearing a point, though, where congress, where the fed will stop having to throw money at this problem? >> so i can't speak for congress, but i will say that the federal reserve is going to continue to do what it needs to try to get us back to full employment as quickly as possible. >> brennan: well, we will have to watch and see what congress ends up doing. as we know in the months ahead, there will be more debate over more aid. thank you very much. we will watch for the program will you be launching. stay with us on "face the nation." >> we want to go now to jefjeffrey biloti. the hotels include days inn howard johnson and laquinta. >> thank you for having me, margaret. >> brennan: a.a.a. is out saying they expect the lowest amount of traffic on planes, trains, and

automobiles in modern history. what are you seeing in your hotels? >> we are remarkably open. and we have been throughout this pandemic. we're the world's, as you said, largest hotel franchise company. and our 6,300 hotels have essentially all remained open. 90% of our hotels have remained open through this pandemic, serving essential workers, the frontline workers. and our hotels are continuing to pick up. it has been five consecutive weeks of increasing demand. we're the world's leader in the economy, the mid scale, the select service space. our mid-scale hotels are occupancy levels, close to 50%, and they continue to see increased demand. >> brennan: but how do you keep costumers safe, given that there are

reception areas in hotels? there are people coming in and out? there are cleaning crews. is it safe? >> well, margaret, we believe that the most important thing anyone can do is follow the guidelines of the c.d.c., the w.h.o., and the states. and that's what we've been doing all along. and, yes, our hotels have been safe. at reduced o occupancy levels that are beginning to pick up. rut our hotels have been been, and we are cleaning in ways that gusts are looking for those visual cues the moment they walk in, from the social distancing throughout our lobbies and our public areas, to all of the increased cleanliness levels that we're introducing with hospital-grade disinfectants and e.p.a.-certified cleaning supplies. >> brennan: and everyone has to wear a mask, is that what you mean by

visual cue? >> visual cue, certainly from our employees, yes. you'll see our staff with masks, and guests being asked to wear masks as they check into the hotel. >> brennan: you, as we mentioned, have franchises, so other business owners hold on to the properties themselves. is the emergency support that congress and the fed have made available, is it enough to avoid bankruptcies? >> it is incredibly helpful. and we applaud the administration, congress -- we applaud all of the efforts offered to our franchisees. they look at the percent support as a lifeline. 90% of our small business owners have applied for a p.p.p., and 80% have received that. it is enough to allow them

to avoid bankruptcy. they view this as a lifeline, an anchor, at a time when they needed it most. one of my franchisees i was talking to yesterday, kitty singh, felt like she was in the deep end of the pool, about to sink, with her three laquinta hotels in texas, until that lifeline was thrown to them. it has allowed them to go on, pay their employees, and pay their utilities. what we're advocating on behalf of is more flexibility and more continued support. and we thiwenk we're getting it from an administration that is listening to us right now. >> brennan: so what are you asking the administration to do? what do you mean more flexibility? >> more flexibility in the p.p.p. program, the paycheck protection program, in terms of how those funds will stretch

out. from four weeks to 26 weeks. the repayment from two years to five years. and the ability to be more flexible on the 75/25% rule. right now it is 75% of that loan needs to be used to pay employees, but our franchisees have other costs, like their mortgage. they're receiving a lot of support from their local lending institutions. again, these are small mom and pop shops, and we have not seen any bankruptcies yet, and we do think they're able to operate at reduced occupancy levels and maintain that break-even because of this support. >> brennan: well, we know all of that is going to be up for debate before congress. and thank you for your time this morning. >> thank you for having us on. >> brennan: we'll be right back.

16. [errhhh] momma's tired. i, i'm, like... wooo! [screaming] i never thought i'd say this, but i kind of miss school! the teachers, i mean, y'all are gifted people! their investment into our children is beyond what we can even imagine. appreciate all that you do.

(for my mother,vo) what iit was a very difficult time.. but she wasn't alone. everybody tried to do what they could to help. we can get through this. we all have the strength to do it. i've seen it. [laughs] ♪

>> brennan: we go now to michael, a former secretary of homeland security, and he is co-chairing the task force on reopening the district of columbia. he joins us this morning from washington, d.c. good to have you with us. >> good to be on, margaret. >> brennan: the washington, d.c. metro area has the highest positivity rate of covid in the country, according to the white house. there is still significant virus circulating here according to dr. birx. is it safe to open the capital? >> well, of course, the paramount concern has been safety. the good news, at least in the district, is it looks like over the pat 11 ha aady decrease in new cases, and our transmission rate is somewhat less than one transmission per person. as long as that continues, we should be in the position to begin the process of reopening in about a week.

we're doing this in a very deliberate way. the mayor has set forth a series of stages, which we've recommended. and the idea is simply to take it a step at a time and make sure while we're doing this, we're doing it in a way that maximizes safety. >> brennan: d.c. is the nerve center for the federal government, it is where members of congress fly in and out of. there is just a unique set of risk factors here. why do you think that there still is this level of virus circulating? and does that concern you at this point? >> wl, we're concerned that you have virus at any level. we may have started a little bit later, for example, than new york andrefore their peak may have been earlier. but as sigh say, we'r i say we'e process at least of beginning to see a decline. but as you point out, margaret, we get a lot of

visitors and people comingin for parts of the country. that means we get more vectors coming in with infection, than might be the case in a city where you don't get a people from out of state. so that presents a unique set of challenges. and we're trying to work with our neighboring counties in virginia and in maryland again to mitigate the risk as we move forward. >> brennan: now, one of the recommendations that you put forward, whether or not the mayor takes it, is not to fully reopen schools for in-person learning until there is a vaccine. how would that work? what do you mean by that? >> well, thed is,t least in stage one, to have distance learning, have it be done remotely. but then over the next two stages, which means we would basically reduce the outbreak to isolated outbreaks, and during the next period of time, we would slowly begin to bring students in. those entering

transitional grades or needing extra instruction would come in first. we would make sure to maintain distancing in classrooms to keep the collection of people in a particular classroom below a certain number, like 10. to make sure the same youngsters are together throughout the day so you don't have a lot of people mixing with other groups, and then to have present on staff people with health backgrounds and experience in case someone displays symptoms or some issue arises. the idea would be eventually, during the course of this time, to basically reopen but in a very measured and deliberate way. >> brennan: you, as i mentioned, ran homeland security at one point during the bush administration. is the cu >> well, i mean, our playbook, of course, was something that was built about 15 years ago. some of the elements of the playbook i think we see running now. i know, for example,

dr. anthony fauci worked closely with us 20 years owing on this, and he is ill very much involved and engaged. i think some areas where there has been perhaps a shortfall has been in the stockpiling of medical equipment and protective gear, which was not present in sufficient quantities when this began. and there was a bit of a delay, perhaps in recognizing that we need to deal with traveling from europe, which turned out to be one of the major vectors for breeding the infection into the united states from other parts of the globe. but i always hasten to say that no crisis or emergency ever plays out exactly the way you planned. what the planning should allow you to do is eqip lfain yourself to adapt. and fortunately we have professionals in the health field and in homeland security who do understand how this works. >> brennan: now, one thing in terms of planning we're looking at is the fall and the possible

resurgence. that could overlap with the election. i know you look at election securityment i want to read to you something the president tweeted. he said: "the u.s. cannot have all mail-in ballots. people will grab them from mailbox, print thousands of forgeries, and force people to sign forged names. some absentee ballots may be okay when necessary, but this is trying to use covid for this scam." what should national security officials be planning for the election? and should it include mail-in ballots? >> i believe it should definitely include mail-in ballots. there has never been a demonstration of widespread fraud. many years ago i prosecuted somebody who committed election fraud, but it was a handful of ballots for people who were incapacitated. it allows people to vote without putting themselves at risk for long lines in

an actual physical election voting site. the other thing we can do, in addition to mail-in, is to have many more sites for curbside voting, where you drive up and you can deposit your ballot. it is the best way to make sure people get to exercise their very important franchise as voters. >> brennan: all right. secretary, thank you for joining us. we'll be right back. mrs. walker. michael vasquez! come over here. i've heard such good things about you, your company. well, i wouldn't have done any of it without you. without this place. this is for you. michael, you didn't have to...

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>> brennan: this memorial day we honor the fallen who have served our country, especially the 32 defense department personnel who have recently died of the coronavirus. during these difficult times, our military is out in full force. here is our national security correspondent david martin. >>orter: flyovers to honor health care workers across the country, hospital ships steaming in to do work in los angeles. the army cor corps of engineers setting up centers. national guard troops manning coronavirus testing stations. a general you probably have never heard of, gus

perna, named chief operating officer of the race for a vacci the public has seen more of its military in this time of lockdown than it would have if the virus had never reached the united states. even though the armed forces have been observing their own lockdown. >> we haven't had really any interactions with any other humans, other than each other, since the beginning of march. >> reporter: captain akimsaday is the commanding officer of the aircraft carrier truman. >> right now we're doing it under way to keep the ship covid-19-free. >> reporter: is that your main mission, to stay out there and remain covid-free? >> based on what is going on with some other big assets in the navy, the smartest thing to do was to keep the crew away from the shore. >> reporter: we spoke to the captain as the truman steamed up and down the east coast, operating like no other warship ever has. >> a call goes out

overhead, disinfecters, disinfecters, man your spray bottles, kill off viruses on handrails and surfaces. >> reporter: victoria says the ship is wiped down twice a day. and whenever a supply flight comes out from shore, the packages are immediately sprayed with disinfectant. remaining covid-free is the mission but not exactly the glory the truman had in mind. >> we're used to being on the front lines, the ones out there taking the risks. and the roles have been reversed. now we're here relatively safe, covid-free, not concerned about the environment that we're living in, and our families are on the frontlines. >> reporter: on the other side of the world, the theodore roosevelt finally got under way from guam. we spoke to the captain shortly before he left port. do you think this virus has changed the navy

forever? >> i'm not going to speak on behalf of the entire navy, but i'll speak on behalf the theodore roosevelt. it has certainly changed us forever and opened our eyes to another potential threat to our health and our ability to do our mission. >> reporter: changed forever, including face masks at arlington national cemetery. but there are some things about the american military, and what it means to this country, that will never change. >> brennan: we'll be right back. everybody tried to do what they could to help. we can get through this. we all have the strength to do it. i've seen it. [laughs] ♪

>> brennan: that's it for us today. thank you all for watching. until next week, for "face the nation," i'm margaret brennan. captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org (female announcer) the following is a paid program for crepe erase.

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