According to a report from Politico, Donald Trump's White House is pondering moving the office overseeing global pandemics to the State Department under Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The report notes that "The proposal, discussed during a National Security Council deputies committee meeting on Thursday, already has set off a turf battle between the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. USAID officials were surprised and perplexed by the idea, which could lead them to lose control of significant funds and authorities."
According to the report, Dr. Deborah Birx, who is fast becoming the face of the administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic as the White House shifts Dr. Anthont Fauci offstage, would head up the newly formed department at State.
"The proposal also could, to some degree, establish an alternative mechanism to some of the work done by the World Health Organization, whose U.S. funding Trump has threatened to permanently end," Politic reports, adding, "Under the proposed initiative, the State Department would appoint a coordinator to oversee nearly every aspect of pandemic preparedness and response — from the global distribution of vaccines and therapeutics to the development of modernized protocols to prevent the spread of an outbreak."
"The proposal comes as senior administration officials grapple with ongoing flaws in the federal government’s response to Covid-19, which has pitted top agencies against each other as they work to secure medical supplies for U.S. stockpiles and other nations, and has often resulted in conflicting guidance from the White House and public health officials," the report continues. "The plan could decrease USAID’s role by consolidating pandemic preparedness under the State Department, which lacks the volume of supply chain experts, epidemiologists and public health experts on staff at USAID. There also are questions about whether the initiative will focus strictly on infectious disease outbreaks or be expanded to include other types of global health issues."
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