Readout of the President's Meeting on the Domestic Ebola Response

The President this afternoon convened a meeting with members of his national security and public health teams coordinating the whole-of-government response to Ebola. The President's advisors updated him on the status of the contact tracing process to identify and, as necessary, monitor all individuals who may have come into contact with the Ebola patients in Dallas following their exposure. The team also discussed plans to augment resources available to state and local authorities in Dallas. Specifically, in order to ensure the Dallas response is nimble and capable of leveraging effective coordination between the federal, state, and local levels—as well as with frontline healthcare workers—the administration, working closely with state and local officials, will support or designate the appointment of senior personnel to serve on the ground in Dallas. These officials include:

• An experienced Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coordinator to ensure all federal assistance is meeting the most urgent needs; and,

• A White House liaison to fulfill the President's pledge to provide all necessary federal resources.

The President underscored that the domestic response to Ebola cases must be seamless at all levels, just as we continue to move forward expeditiously with a whole-of-government approach to counter the outbreak at its source in West Africa.

Participants:

The Vice President

Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense

Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services

Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security

Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff

Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget

John Podesta, Counselor to the President

Susan Rice, National Security Advisor

General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Samantha Power, Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations (via secure video conference)

Dr. John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy

Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention

Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism

Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development

Nancy Powell, State Department Ebola Coordinator

Katie Beirne Fallon, Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs

Jennifer Palmieri, Director of Communications

Joshua Earnest, Press Secretary

Suzanne George, Executive Secretary and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council

Brian Egan, National Security Council Legal Advisor

Rand Beers, Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security