The CDC has a Center for Preparedness and Response[1] dedicated to "advancing the nation’s preparedness and response for public health emergencies and threats", which receives over a billion dollars annually, hosts an Epidemic Intelligence Service conference every year, etc.
How can one reconcile the amount of money and resources allocated to the CDC programs that were supposed to help protect the US from pandemic threats with the embarrassingly inept response?
I flew from Taiwan to Singapore in late February 2020 and literally everyone on the plane (passengers and flight crew) were wearing masks even though IIRC masks were not required at the time. By then, it had been patently obvious to laypeople in Asia for weeks that this thing was spreading via the air. And yet you had America's top health officials telling people in early March they didn't need to worry about masking.