Diary Prequel Package — page 278

Tony Feb. 23, 2012 - Finally, a pleasant evening. Attended reception at the Jefferson Hotel for the Global Health Corps (GHC) created and led by Barbara Bush, George W's daughter. Great reception. It was a fund raiser for the fellows of the GHC. Laura Bush was there and she and Barbara during the speeches called me out for praise for all that I have done for AIDS research. All the GHC fellows were so happy to meet me since they had been hearing about me for years and now were meeting me. I met Marvin Bush, George's brother. The usual crew was there - Mark Dybul (host), Eric Goosby, Stephen Hadley former National Security advisor to GWB. Many other luminaries. The Ambassador for Woman's issues of DoS mentioned in her speech how much Sec. Clinton admired me. Feb. 25, 2012 - Went to a (now commonplace for me) dinner at Café Milano hosted by Catherine and Wayne Reynolds in honor of Gov. Jerry brown (D-CA) and his wife Anne. Brown in DC for Governor's Convention. Sat next to Anne and got major insight into the Gov. He was known as Governor "Moonbeam" in the 70s during the hippy years when he dated Linda Ronstadt. However, he is an amazing person in that he just tells the truth without an obvious ideology. Anne told me that Pres. Obama completely shuns even other Democrats such as Democratic Governors. Obama has never once asked Jerry for any advice about anything. It was a lively evening talking about the Republican Primaries and the ridiculousness of it with Romney vs Paul vs Gingrich vs Santorum. Other usual notables at dinner. Chris and Kathleen Matthews, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. I sat next to his wife Mary who is extremely conservative and not too bright (scary), Also there was Bob Barnett and his wife. NPR Nina Totenberg and husband David, Peter Agre, etc. Feb. 27, 2012 - Briefed the senior, but sub-Interagency Policy Committee on the Geneva meeting. Chaired by Laura Holgate from NSS (National Security Staff). Also present were Brian Kamoi (NSS - he has lost about 90 lbs. and looks great); Sally Howard (Chief-of-Staff to Sec. Sebelius); Kevin..... from Commerce; a bunch of representatives from the various US Government departments. Tom Countryman from State Department is really a jerk, pompous and uninformed. I alleviated the anxieties of the group regarding the studies by clarifying the difference between transmission and virulence in the Fouchier study. I strongly suggest that we reconvene the NSABB to allow them to see the new data and hear the clarification of the old data. Feb. 28, 2012 - Ron Fouchier flew in from Rotterdam to be on a panel tomorrow AM (Feb. 29) organized by American Society of Microbiology (ASM) to discuss this issue. Invited Ron over my house for dinner (rigatoni and sausage with tomato sauce) with Cliff Lane and Hugh Auchincloss to discuss the approach for tomorrow. Ron related to me that the NSABB never gave him a chance to explain his experiments and that he met them via teleconference. Clearly they were hostile to him and when his interview was over, Mike Osterholm started speaking before Ron signed off and Mike said (without knowing that Ron was still on the line) that Ron was a "liar". Ron stayed on the line in