A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
-
August 28, 2003 -- Showed General John Gordon (Director of White House Office of Homeland Security) around NIAID , i.e. Vaccine Research Center where Gary Nabel and I gave him a tour and also Building 40 with Brian Murphy. Gordon loved it and was quite impressed. With us were Stewart Simonson and Ken Bernard.
-
August 29, 2003 -- Briefing of General Gordon in Situation Room of White House on update of biodefense efforts. DoD also briefed as did Parney Albright of DHS. I have a new friend in General Gordon. August 30 -- Sept.7, 2003 -- Usual stuff going on. Will return to WH to brief Gen. Gordon again since he asked about my concems where I had mentioned the gaps in Chem. and Rad. Biodefense during my last visit to the WH. Also, have been discussing with Bob Kadlec the possibility of going to Iraq with him to visit the medical people and establish contacts. Moral at NIH very low due to the lack of clarity of Elias Zerhouni as to exactly what he is
-
Sept. 11, 2003 -- Briefed General John Gordon in the West Wing of the WH on our plans for Chem/Rad/Nucl countermeasure research. Also, the question of the "breakthrough" by Craig Venter in synthesized the Phi X bacteriophage in 10 days. DoE is selling this as a major breakthrough and the WH has reacted by wanting to restrict the research dissemination. I argued that this is important, but it is not a conceptual breakthrough, only a derivative improvement in technology that is already widely disseminated in Biotech companies and private scientists. I argued for transparency as well as cultivating a culture of responsibility among scientists by a RAC-type approach to this research. Present at the briefing was Gen. Gordon, Stewart Simonson, Ken Bernard, Fran Townsend (Deputy to Gen. Gordon and former CIA Associate Director). They loved the briefing. They want me to brief the deputy secretaries tomorrow and Andy Card next week.
-
Sept. 12, 2003 -- Gave another briefing in the Situation Room of the White House to General John Gordon. Present were Ken Bemard, Carol Kuntz, Robert Card (Deputy Secretary of DoE), Ari Patrinos, Phil Russell, Larry Kerr, Harriet Meiers -- Deputy to Andy Card. Topic was the Craig Venter situation. I presented the facts and pushed for an NIH RAC-like approach and argued again for transparency and cultivating a culture of responsibility. Adjourned with Carol Kuntz to her office and discussed the anthrax threat and the capabilities of Al Quaeda in this regard. Will brief the VP within a couple of weeks on a progress report of biodefense at NIH.
-
2003-09-17 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Sept. 17, 2003 -- Another briefing in the White House Situation Room for Gen Gordon regarding Venter issue. DoE did the briefing (Ari Patrinos) and I presented the proposal rwer back finally. of having the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) serve as a mechanism to provide a "culture of responsibility" among scientists similar to what was done in the mid-1970s. At the briefing was the usual people - Gen Gordon, Ken Bernard, Richard Falkenrath, Carol Kuntz, several DoE people, WH communications people, etc. Decision was to put together a briefing for the Secretaries.
-
Sept. 18 -19, 2003 - Went to NYC to give Plenary Lecture at the AIDS Vaccine 2003 meeting. While I was there, Hurricane Isabel hit Washington, D.C. and there was widespread devastation with major power outages (3 million people in DC, VA, and MD without power). Power not expected to be restored for at least 1 week.
-
Sept. 24, 2003 - Power back finally.
-
Sept. 25, 2003 - White House meeting with Jay Lefkowitz, Gary Edson, Mark Dybul, Joe O'Neill, Carol Thompson to discuss the controversy regarding $2 Billion versus $3 billion in FY '04 for the President's $15 billion, 5 year plan. Bono and other activists want a full $3 billion in '04. However, if we did that, then we would put less in '05, '06, etc. I recommended to Jay et al to stick with the Plan and leave flexibility to match other funds by 1/3. See below my e-mail to Jay from 9/25/03: Jay/Gary: Just a recap of my suggestion from this afternoon for your consideration. Mark was on the same page on this also. I believe that we must remind people and strongly underscore that the President's Plan is a $15 billion program over 5 years involving 14 countries. Within the context of such a plan (we must emphasize this point), the best way to spend the money and thus to save the most lives is by phasing in with $2 billion in the first year and more than $3 billion per year in subsequent years. We all realize that more money can be spent globally on AIDS and thus more lives can be saved. This is a no-brainer. We never said that the President's Plan of itself would cover all of global AIDS. We should not get into an "absorptive capacity" argument since no matter how clear we are, people will confuse absorptive capacity in the President's Plan of 14 countries and absorptive capacity for the rest of the developing world. I suggest that we take a 2 pronged approach. 1) We stick with the President's Plan as it has been outlined, and; 2) We publicly recognize that more money can indeed be spent on AIDS globally. We are hoping that other countries will follow the President's lead and put more money into programs either bilaterally or through the Global Fund. In fact, we are willing to go the extra mile and to contribute 1/3 of the global effort if other countries rise to the occasion. In '03, the world total was $3.6 billion with $1.4 billion by us (39%). Since we are giving $2 billion in '04, the rest of the world should give $4 billion. If the rest of the world gives more than $4 billion, we will match them by 1/3. Thus, if they want us to give $3 billion in '04, the rest of the world must total $6 billion. If this happens (which it will not), then we will put the additional money into a mix of Global Fund and other countries (beyond the original 14) bilaterally. In this way we show leadership and flexibility. If no one else gives an additional penny, we still are committed to the President's Plan as we have outlined. If other countries meet the above mentioned benchmarks, then we are flexible enough to match them by 1/3. Finally, if the Congress appropriates a couple of hundred million over the $2 billion and the President signs such a Bill, we would give that additional money to the Global Fund and/or additional countries and back up our contention that our funding plan for the 14 countries is indeed sound. I would be happy to discuss this further with you. Thanks, Tony
-
Sept. 26, 2003 - White House meeting on Bioshield with the usual suspects - Stewart Simonson, Jorge Tavel, Ken Bernard, Bill Winkenwerder, Larry Kerr, etc. We are getting ready for finalizing the legislation. After the meeting in the EEOB, I went over to the West Wing to see Richard Falkenrath. NIAID will be awarding 2 NBLs (BSL-4 labs) and 9 RBLs (BSL-3 labs) on Sept. 30. I have been getting incredible lobbying pressure from people like Sen. Hillary Clinton and others for their state or district sites. Chicago is in the running for an NBL and the President is going to Chicago on Sept. 30. The WH wants me to delay the announcement until 2:00 PM after the President leaves Chicago since Chicago got an RBL, but not an NBL and the WH wanted to avoid any embarrassment for the President to be there when bad news arrived.