To manage the government’s response to the Ebola outbreak, the Obama administration says it wasn’t looking for someone who is an expert on Ebola.
The White House on Friday named Ron Klain as its “Ebola response coordinator,” though he’s quickly become known as the “Ebola czar.” Mr. Klain is an attorney who worked for vice presidents Joseph R. Biden and Al Gore and is general counsel at Revolution LLC, a tech-focused venture capital firm.
He also is president of Case Holdings, which handles business interests for former AOL CEO Steve Case.
What Mr. Klain is not is a medical expert, nor is he someone who has any particular knowledge about Ebola.
Despite that, the administration says he is the right man for the job.
“It is not solely a medical response. That’s why someone with Mr. Klain’s credentials, somebody that has strong management experience both inside government but also in the private sector … all of that means he is the right person for the job,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. “The president wanted somebody who could serve in a coordinating function to manage our implementation of a whole-of-government approach to this Ebola situation … What we were looking for is not an Ebola expert but rather an implementation expert. That’s exactly what Ron Klain is.”
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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