"For the first time since 9/11, you don't have someone directly reporting to the president responsible [for threats like] pandemics," an ex-official said.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's decision to downsize the White House national security staff — and eliminate jobs addressing global pandemics — is likely to hamper the U.S. government's response to the coronavirus, according to veterans of past disease outbreaks and experts who have studied them.
However, one former Trump senior official said a czar — and not a Cabinet secretary — was needed to run the administration's response."It’s better to have one person who has the backing of the White House to coordinate," the official said.In 2014, as the U.S. government scrambled to respond to the Ebola outbreak, President Barack Obama appointed lawyer Ron Klain to lead the effort from the White House, supported by staff from the National Security Council.
In 2018, Trump fired Tom Bossert, whose job as homeland security adviser on the NSC included coordinating the response to global pandemics. Bossert was not replaced. Last year, Rear Adm. Tim Ziemer, the NSC's senior director for global health security and biodefense, left the council and was not replaced. Dr. Luciana Borio, the NSC's director for medical and biodefense preparedness, left in May 2018 and was also not replaced.
"I'm concerned with the fact that we are not yet doing testing on individuals with unexplained respiratory illness, to detect whether the virus is already circulating in the community." "And I'd note that this is probably something that justifies having one person in government who can work across the various departments and agencies to make sure we have a unified response to protect our citizens," he told reporters.
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