Suffering a crisis of confidence over his leadership on Ebola a week before the midterm elections, President Barack Obama assembled a massive staff meeting on the issue at the White House Sunday.
Including the president, there were 24 people in physical attendance at the meeting CBS News said was convened “to discuss a nationwide policy for health care workers returning from West Africa.” Vice President Joe Biden joined via telephone, and Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Thomas Frieden and US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power joining via video teleconference.
Sunday, the New York Times reported President Obama was unhappy with the 21 day mandatory quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola-impacted nations announced by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Behind the scenes, Obama has been pressuring the governors to lift the policy.
The quarantine made national news when its first subject, a nurse named Kaci Hickox, wrote a scathing op-ed on her forced confinement.
Attendees at the White House meeting include everyone from Secretary of State John Kerry and adviser Valeria Jarrett, to White House Communications Director Jennifer Palmieri and new Ebola Czar Ron Klain.
Here are the participants and their titles, courtesy of Mark Knoller of CBS News:
- The President
- The Vice President (via telephone)
- John Kerry, Secretary of State
- Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense
- Eric Holder, Attorney General
- Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services
- Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Secretary
- Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff
- Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
- Amb. Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations (via video teleconference)
- Valerie Jarrett, Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Engagement
- Susan Rice, National Security Advisor
- Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
- Neil Eggleston, Counsel to the President
- John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology
- Ron Klain, Ebola Response Coordinator
- Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (via video teleconference)
- Katie Fallon, Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs
- Jennifer Palmieri, Director of Communications
- Marisa Lago, Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development, Treasury Department
- Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease
- Nancy Lindborg, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Agency for International Development
- Suzanne George, Chief of Staff of the National Security Council
- Brian Egan, Deputy Counsel to the President
- Rand Beers, Deputy Assistant to the President for Homeland Security
- Jeffrey Prescott, Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President
- Gayle Smith, Senior Director for Development and Democracy, National Security Council