Diary Prequel Package — page 84

Anacostia Post lat Nov. 3, 2003 - Carol Kuntz informed me that the Vice President wants me to brief him on what we are doing with Rad/Nucl research and countermeasures. This is tough since this is not really my issue; however, the VP wants it and so we will put something together for him Nov. 5, 2003 - Meet in my conference room with Israeli Ambassador to the USA - Daniel Ayalon to discuss potential for collaborations with Israel. We got along very well; he is quite engaging. We discussed scientific collaboration as well as our difficult situation in Iraq with the insurgency and terrorism. Nov. 6, 2003 - Meeting at the EEOB (White House) to discuss how I will brief the VP on Nov. 20, 2003. VP wants me to take care of the Nucl/Rad countermeasure situation since he does not have confidence in the scattered others. Issue is that this is not my primary area of expertise. He wants me to do it anyway. Nice compliment, but this will be a lot of work. Also, Anthrax situation evolving at Anacostia Naval Post Office. Possibly contaminant. Nov. 7, 2003 - Still sorting out the likely anthrax contaminant at the Anacostia Post office. Met in my office today with the South African activist who last year refused to be treated with ART for his HIV because the S. African government was not providing treatment for the rest of the country. He is a very gentle person and a true hero. He just wanted to come and meet with me. Nov. 13, 2003 - Met with the PCC (Policy Coordinating Committee) regarding the response to the Fink report. The PCC adopted for the most part the responses of the DHHS to the Fink report. We (Stewart Simonson, Stuart Nightingale, Amy Patterson, Lana Skirboll, John La Montagne) have been working on DHHS's response for several weeks now. Also, I was on conference call this afternoon with Secret Service, DHS, DHHS, FBI regarding a letter that contained ricin that was sent to Greenville, SC; however, now a letter addressed to the White House also containing ricin has been discovered. The discussions among the Secret Service, FBI, Department of Transportation, etc. is chaos. It is somewhat embarrassing. The discussion centered around the investigation and not the public health issues until DHHS (Bob Blitzer) brought up the fact that we really need to find out who might have been exposed. This phone call was like the Keystone Cops! Nov. 14, 2003 - Continual conference calls regarding the ricin incident. It turns out that someone crushed some castor beans and stuck crude material into an envelope to blackmail the Dept. of Transportation. Letter was also sent to WH. Bottom line - no health threat. Nov. 20, 2003 - Went to West Wing of WH to brief VP Cheney on Nuclear and Radiological Threat Countermeasures. As I was crossing Pennsylvania Avenue to enter West Wing at 9:30 AM, there was an alarm that a small aircraft had encroached upon