- The Washington Times - Wednesday, September 17, 2014

A two-star general tapped by the Obama administration to coordinate a military response to the Ebola crisis in Africa has arrived in Liberia to survey the area for a new Joint Force Command headquarters.

Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams and a team of about a dozen staff were in the coastal country conducting a preliminary assessment and are working at an accelerated pace to combat the virus that is rapidly spreading across Africa, Pentagon officials said Wednesday.

U.S. military officials will set up headquarters in Monrovia and build Ebola treatment units in areas of Liberia where people have been inflicted by the virus, according to a White House fact sheet.

Officials said an initial assessment would likely take several days.

President Obama said Tuesday that he would base a military headquarters in Monrovia and dispatch up to 3,000 personnel to build Ebola treatment units, which each hold about 100 beds.

Some of the personnel will be sent to a staging area in Senegal to perform other tasks, but building the treatment units — about 17 of them — remains the most critical element of the mission, officials said.

• Maggie Ybarra can be reached at mybarra@washingtontimes.com.

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