WASHINGTON
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday named a lawyer and advisor to Vice President Biden as the "czar" of the campaign against Ebola.
White House veteran Ron Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden and to previous Vice President Al Gore, is to lead the U.S. Ebola campaign as a part of the efforts to tighten the measures against the spread of the virus.
Klain was the lead Democratic lawyer for Gore in his bid to demand a recount in the 2000 presidential election a bid that Gore lost when the Supreme Court ruled against the recount.
Klain is expected to handle the political aspects of the campaign against Ebola, as well as managing the effort itself, Washington observers said. The White House said that Klain has "strong management credentials."
Klain will report to national security adviser Susan Rice and to Homeland Security adviser Lisa Monaco, a White House statement said.
Kerry pledges international response to Ebola
Secretary of State John Kerry met the foreign diplomatic corps at the Department of State in Washington pledging an international response to the dramatically spreading Ebola epidemic in the West Africa.
"Of the $1 billion that the UN estimated as needed for the response, I regret to say we are barely a third of the way there," Kerry complained. He called for contributions from around the world to complete work being done by the U.S.
Kerry said that the U.S. has contributed $258 million besides sending as many as 4,000 troops to the region, and establishing 17 Ebola treatment units in West Africa.
However, Kerry noted there is still need for flatbed trucks and 350 non-armored vehicles for transport of aid and resources, as well as helicopters and crews who can get to work right away.
"If we don’t adequately address this current outbreak now, then Ebola has the potential to become a scourge like HIV or polio, that we will end up fighting, all of us, for decades," Kerry said. "This engages all of us, and it is a real test of global citizenship."
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