Maybe I watch too many movies. How often does a wheezy man with a runny nose sneeze in an airplane? Then, naturally, we see a world map where the contagion, whatever it might be, spreads across the globe thanks to patient zero. This is soon followed by an apocalypse that involves siphoning gas and killing over canned goods. Yes, I probably watch too many movies. But, when I hear “Ebola” and “Dallas” in the same sentence, the mind tends to wander.

Let me say up front, and without hesitation, I don’t want President Obama’s job. The President wades through rivers of stress on a daily basis and there are thousands of possible issues to which he might devote himself. When to act and not to act must be one of Mr. Obama’s greatest quandaries.

Ebola, however, requires action. The President has provided American resources and expertise to West Africa and those will make a difference, but he needs to take additional steps to protect America from the virus. In Federalist 70, Alexander Hamilton reasons that “energy” is the most important ingredient of a successful executive. The Constitution allows quick and decisive action. The President, in contrast to Congress, does not have to consult a committee to act within his powers. He is empowered to fulfill his most basic duty–to protect the nation and its citizens.

How does this relate to Ebola? Mark Krikorian, at National Review Online, thinks that our relaxed travel policies are putting the nation at risk. In the Dallas Ebola case, a man from Liberia traveled to the US on a visitor’s visa to see family members. While here, and before he was diagnosed and quarantined, he encountered dozens of people, some of whom are now quarantined as well. We don’t want to panic unnecessarily. The Ebola virus does not transmit through the air and its relatively low transmission rate means there is a small likelihood we will see a dramatic outbreak in the U.S. At the same time, why not take basic and temporary measures that make that likelihood even smaller?

As Krikorian urges, President Obama can use his alphabet soup of administrative agencies (immigration services, the State Department, Transportation Security Administration, and the Federal Aviation Administration seem most likely) to prevent, as much as possible, travel to America from countries at the epicenter of this outbreak–Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. Let’s hope he does it soon.