U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UN TESTIFIES TO CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Testimony to the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
Washington, DC
June 16, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Congressman Engel. Distinguished members of the Committee, thank you for the opportunity to testify today. And thank you for being here. Thank you also for your leadership in advancing America’s national security interests and our values in the world.

Last week I traveled to Ukraine, where I had the chance to see up close what happens when the rules undergirding our international peace and security are ignored. At a shelter for displaced families in Kyiv, I met a mother who told me how her husband and two-year-old child had been killed in February when a shell struck their home in a village in eastern Ukraine. The shelling, as you all know, was part of a sustained assault by combined Russian-separatist forces – and the victims just two of the more than 6,300 people who have been killed in the Moscow-manufactured conflict. Shortly after the attack, the mother fled town with her five surviving children in a van whose roof and doors had been blasted out. Her plea – one I heard echoed by many of the displaced families I met from eastern Ukraine and occupied Crimea – was for the fighting to stop, and for their basic rights to be respected.

As the members of this Committee know, we are living in a time of daunting global crises. In the last year alone, Russia continued to train, arm, and fight alongside separatists in eastern Ukraine; a deadly epidemic spread across West Africa; and monstrous terrorist groups seized territory across the Middle East and North Africa, committing unspeakable atrocities. These are the kinds of threats that the United Nations exists to prevent and address. Yet it is precisely at the moment when we need the UN most that we see the flaws in the international system, some of which have been alluded to already.

This is true for the conflict in Ukraine – in which a permanent member of the UN Security Council is violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity that it was entrusted with upholding. It is true of the global health system that – despite multiple warnings of a spreading Ebola outbreak, including those from our own CDC – was slow to respond to the epidemic. And it is true of UN peacekeepers, who too often stand down or stand by when civilians they are responsible for protecting come under attack. Thus leaving populations vulnerable and sometimes open to radicalization.

Representing our nation before the United Nations, I have to confront these and other shortcomings every day. Yet though I am clear-eyed about the UN’s vulnerabilities, the central point I want to make to this Committee is that America needs the United Nations to address today’s global challenges. The United States has the most powerful set of tools in history to advance its interests, and we will always lead on the world stage. But we are more effective when we ensure that others shoulder their fair share and when we marshal multilateral support to meet our objectives. Let me quickly outline five ways we are doing that at the UN.

First, we are rallying multilateral coalitions to address transnational threats. Consider Iran. In addition to working with Congress to put in place unprecedented U.S. sanctions on the Iranian government, in 2010 the Obama Administration galvanized the UN Security Council to authorize one of the toughest multilateral sanctions regimes in history. The combination of unilateral and multilateral pressure was crucial to bringing Iran to the negotiating table, and ultimately, to laying the foundation whereby we were able to reach a framework agreement that would, if we can get a final deal, effectively cut off every pathway for the Iranian regime to develop a nuclear weapon.

Consider our response to the Ebola epidemic. Last September, as people were dying outside hospitals in West Africa, hospitals that had no beds left to treat the exploding number of Ebola patients, the United States chaired the first-ever emergency meeting of the UN Security Council dedicated to a global health issue. We pressed countries to deploy doctors and nurses, to build clinics and testing labs, and to fill other gaps that ultimately helped bend the outbreak’s exponentially rising curve. America did not just rally others to step up, we led by example, thanks also very much to the support of this Congress, deploying more than 3,500 U.S. Government civilian and military personnel to Liberia, which has been Ebola-free since early May.

Second, we are reforming UN peacekeeping to help address the threats to international peace and security that exist in the 21st century. There are more than 100,000 uniformed police and soldiers deployed in the UN’s sixteen peacekeeping missions around the world – that is a higher number than in any time in history – with more complex responsibilities also than ever before. The United States has an abiding strategic interest in resolving the conflicts where peacekeepers serve, which can quickly cause regional instability and attract extremist groups, as we have seen in Mali. Yet while we have seen peacekeepers serve with bravery and professionalism in many of the world’s most dangerous operating environments, we’ve also seen chronic problems, too often, as mentioned, including the failure to protect civilians.

We are working aggressively to address these shortfalls. To give just one example, we are persuading more advanced militaries to step up and contribute soldiers and police to UN peacekeeping. That was the aim of a summit that Vice President Biden convened at the UN last September, where Colombia, Sweden, Indonesia and more than a dozen other countries announced new troop commitments; and it is the message I took directly to European leaders in March, when I made the case in Brussels that peacekeeping is a critical way for European militaries to do their fair share in protecting our common security interests, particularly as they draw down in Afghanistan. This coming September, President Obama will convene another summit of world leaders to build on this momentum and help catalyze a new wave of commitments and generate a new set of capabilities for UN peacekeeping.

Third, we are fighting to end bias and discrimination at the UN. Day in and day out, we push back against efforts to delegitimize Israel at the UN, and we fight for its right to be treated like any other nation – from mounting a full-court diplomatic press to help secure Israel’s permanent membership into two UN groups from which it had long and unjustly been excluded, to consistently and firmly opposing one-sided actions in international bodies. In December, when a deeply unbalanced draft resolution on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was hastily put before the Security Council, the United States successfully rallied a coalition to join us in voting against it, ensuring that the resolution failed to achieve the nine votes of Security Council members required for adoption. We will continue to confront anti-Israel bias wherever we encounter it.

Fourth, we are working to use UN tools to promote human rights and affirm human dignity, as we did by working with partners to hold the first-ever Security Council meeting focused on the human rights situation in North Korea in December. We used that session to shine a light on the regime’s horrors – a light we kept shining through a panel discussion I hosted in April, with escaped victims of the regime. One woman told of being forced to watch the executions of fellow prisoners who committed the “crime” of daring to ask why they had been imprisoned, while another woman told how members from three generations of her family – her grandmother, her father, and her younger brother – had starved to death. This is important for UN Member States to hear.

Fifth, we are doing everything within our power to make the UN more fiscally responsible, more accountable, and more nimble – both because we have a responsibility to ensure American taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, and because maximizing the efficiency of our contributions means saving more lives and better protecting the world’s most vulnerable people. Since the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year, we have reduced the cost-per-peacekeeper by 18 percent, and we are constantly looking for ways to right-size missions in response to conditions on the ground, as we will do this year through substantial drawdowns in Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, and Liberia, among other missions.

Let me conclude. At the outset, I spoke of my recent visit to Ukraine. Across the range of Ukrainians I met – from the mother who lost her husband and two-year-old child in the assault by combined Russian-separatist forces; to the brave students who risked their lives to take part in the Maidan protests against the kleptocratic Yanukovych government; to the young members of parliament working to fight corruption and increase transparency – what united them was the yearning for certain basic rights. And, the belief that the United States could lead other countries – and the United Nations – in helping make their aspirations a reality.

I heard the same sentiment when visiting UN-run camps of people displaced by violence in the Central African Republic, and South Sudan, and in the Ebola-affected communities of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone at the peak of the outbreak.

Some may view the expectation that America can help people overcome their greatest challenges and secure their basic rights as a burden. In fact, that expectation is one of our nation’s greatest strengths, and one we have a vested interest in striving to live up to – daunting as it may feel in the face of so many crises. But we cannot do it alone, nor should we want to. That is why it is more important than ever that we use the UN to rally the multilateral support needed to confront today’s myriad challenges.

Thank you and I look forward to your questions.

WHITE HOUSE STATEMENT ON LIBERIA AND NEW EBOLA CASES

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
May 09, 2015
Statement by the Press Secretary on Liberia

Today, the Republic of Liberia reached the important milestone of 42 days without reporting a new Ebola case, and we are pleased the World Health Organization was able to declare the end of the country’s current outbreak.  We congratulate the people of Liberia on reaching this important marker, and once again pledge our commitment to ending the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and helping to rebuild Liberia and other affected nations.  As President Obama said when Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf visited the White House last month, “We’re proud to partner with you and we intend to see this through until the job is done.” While this milestone is important, the world must not forget that the Ebola outbreak still persists in neighboring Sierra Leone and Guinea.  We must not let down our guard until the entire region reaches and stays at zero Ebola cases. And we must all work together to strengthen capacity around the world to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks before they become epidemics.

CDC REPORTS EBOLA LINK TO SINGLE FUNERAL CEREMONY IN GUINEA

FROM:  U.S. CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION
Ebola Transmission Linked to a Single Traditional Funeral Ceremony — Kissidougou, Guinea, December, 2014–January 2015

Hygienic burial of corpses infected with Ebola and community acceptance of culturally sensitive safe burial practices are important components of successful management and prevention of Ebola. During December 1, 2014 ─ January 10, 2015, the Guinean Ministry of Health requested assistance from CDC, the World Health Organization, and other partners to investigate an Ebola outbreak in Kissidougou, a prefecture in southeastern Guinea where Ebola was first reported in West Africa in March of 2014. Interventions included active identification and isolation of cases, assessing transmission chains, and implementation of control measures. Lessons learned from this outbreak were employed in planning for subsequent outbreaks in rural communities, developing improved protocols for safe burial practices, and creating health-communication messages in local languages.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON EBOLA BEFORE MEETING WITH WEST AFRICAN LEADERS

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
April 15, 2015
Remarks by the President Before Meeting with West African Leaders on Ebola
CABINET ROOM
10:45 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Well, I want to welcome Presidents Sirleaf, Koroma and Condé.  The United States has a long partnership with Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea -- partnerships that prove to be critical in the fight against Ebola.  We’re here to assess progress today and to look ahead.

We begin by noting the incredible losses that took place in all three countries.  More than 10,000 people have died from Ebola -- men, women and children.  On behalf of the American people, we want to express our deepest condolences to the families and recognize how challenging this has been for all the countries involved.

Under extraordinary circumstances, the people of these three countries have shown great courage and resolve, treating and taking care of each other, especially children and orphans.  The United States has been proud to lead an international effort to work with these three countries in a global response.

Last week, there were fewer than 40 new cases, so we’ve seen major progress.  In Liberia right now, there are zero cases.  In Sierra Leone and Guinea combined, there were fewer than 40 new cases last week and that’s around the lowest number in a year.  Now we’re focused on a shared goal, and that is getting to zero.  We can’t be complacent.  This virus is unpredictable.

We have to be vigilant, and the international community has to remain fully engaged in a partnership with these three countries until there are no cases of Ebola in these countries.  Health systems also have to be rebuilt to meet daily needs -- vaccines for measles, delivering babies safely, treating HIV/AIDS and malaria.  And with our Global Health Security Agenda, we intend to do more to prevent future epidemics.

So the Ebola epidemic has been also an economic crisis.  That’s part of the reason why these three presidents are here.  They’re going to be meeting with a number of the multilateral institutions -- the IMF and World Bank here in Washington.  There’s the challenge of restoring markets and agricultural growth, promoting investment and development.  So I’m going to be looking forward to hearing from them on how the United States can stand shoulder to shoulder with them to work hard to take this crisis and turn it into an opportunity to rebuild even stronger than before:  To strengthen administrative systems, public health systems, to continue the work that they’ve done in rooting out corruption, reinforcing democratic institutions -- all of which will be the foundation stones for long-term progress and prosperity.

So Madam President, Mr. Presidents, we are very grateful for the hard work that you’ve done.  We’re proud to partner with you and we intend to see this through until the job is done.

Thank you, everybody.

END

U.S.-SOUTH KOREA ALLIANCE SOLID

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT

Right:  Defense Secretary Ash Carter meets with South Korean Minister of Defense Han Min-Koo on Pyeongtaek Naval Base, South Korea, April 10, 2015. DoD photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Sean Hurt.  

Carter, South Korea’s Han Solidify Alliance
By Terri Moon Cronk
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2015 – The U.S.-South Korea alliance has a global reach based on mutual trust and common values, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said in a joint press conference after meeting with South Korean Minister of Defense Han Min-Koo today.

As Carter begins to wrap up his first official visit to the region as defense secretary, he met with his military counterpart in Seoul.

“We've worked together [with South Korea] to counter [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant], combat Ebola and help rebuild Afghanistan,” Carter said.
“The gains for our national, regional and global security have been impressive, and I thank the Republic of Korea for all it’s doing to ensure peace and security around the world,” the secretary added.

Defense Secretary Reaffirms Resolve, Support

Carter reaffirmed the United States' resolve and support for the alliance and the defense of the Republic of Korea, and he emphasized America's unwavering commitment to its rebalancing strategy in the Asia-Pacific region.

“In light of this, I assessed that the U.S. strategy to rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific will contribute to promoting the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia,” Han said.

The defense leaders reaffirmed their countries’ commitments to the strong alliance and to deepening their collaboration in the years ahead, Carter noted, adding there is particular emphasis on new domains such as space and cyberspace.

North Korea Threats Pivotal to Talks

North Korea’s threats were also key to the leaders’ talk. Carter said they made a candid assessment of the growing North Korean nuclear weapon of mass destruction and ballistic missile threats, “which continue to put at risk the peace and security of the Korean Peninsula, the region, and the U.S. homeland,” he said.

And as North Korea again demonstrated with its recent missile launches, the country is intent on continued provocation, Carter said.

Han added, “Secretary Carter and I reaffirmed that we will continue to work together on reinforcing the alliance's comprehensive capabilities in response to North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile threats.”

Carter and Han also agree on the importance of trilateral information sharing to deter North Korea nuclear missile provocations, Han said.

South Korea, U.S., Japan Cooperation

“[Carter] concurred that Korea, the United States, and Japan should cooperate closely to contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia and the world,” the South Korean leader said.

“On the peninsula, deterrence and readiness are at a premium,” Carter said. “So, we're investing in advanced capabilities to make sure that our top, new investments are tailored to this dynamic security environment and can play a role in … assuring security here.”

To that end, he said, the United States is beginning to rotationally deploy Army brigade combat teams to Korea, providing a more ready set of forces for the peninsula.

“And we're working hard to ensure interoperability with our Korean allies, including thorough training and exercises, like Key Resolve and Foal Eagle,” Carter noted.

The defense leaders also talked about their decision to adopt a conditions-based approach to the transition of wartime operational control, Carter pointed out.
The secretary called it a significant alliance decision, and said both he and Han remain committed to the objectives their nations established at the last security consultative meeting in October 2014.

Looking at America's lasting presence in the Asia-Pacific region, Carter said, “As secretary of defense, I'm personally committed to overseeing the next phase of our rebalance to the region, which will deepen and diversify our engagement throughout the Asia Pacific.”

PRESS AVAILABILITY WITH SECRETARY KERRY AND LIBERIAN PRESIDENT ELLEN JOHNSON SIRLEAF

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Availability With President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Treaty Room
Washington, DC
February 27, 2015

SECRETARY KERRY: Good morning, everybody. I am extremely pleased to welcome Her Excellency, Dr. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president of Liberia, here to America and to the Department of State. President Sirleaf is a very distinguished world leader, the deserving recipient of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, and the first woman elected head of state in Africa. And Madam President, we’re really delighted to have you here now at a moment of great importance to your country’s history. It obviously is a bittersweet combination of great accomplishment with great tragedy. And we are particularly proud of the close relationship between our nations.

I have valued the chance to talk with you this morning about where we are with respect to the Ebola crisis and also the future development challenges of your country, which are critical to recovering from the Ebola crisis, ensuring that the epidemic, obviously, is brought to a complete close. We are not there yet. We still have a challenge, even though enormous progress has been made. And we want to review the other issues that are on our bilateral agenda and we will shortly be meeting with President Obama at the White House. So Madam President, I think you would agree with me that this past year has taught us all something; there have been some lessons we have learned from this great challenge.

Particularly, first, the need to go all-in at the earliest sign of some kind of major outbreak of any deadly or infectious disease. The most effective action is preventative action, and delay or waiting can make the challenge just that much greater. Second, the critical need to upgrade the health infrastructure ensuring that countries have the backing that they need and the support they need, because the difference between rich and poor should not spell the difference between life and death. And the third lesson I think we’ve learned is the absolute importance of teamwork in responding to this kind of a crisis.

Now the last point, the value of teamwork, has been shown dramatically in recent months. In combatting the Ebola epidemic, the United States took a very vigorous, every-hand-on-deck approach with the leadership of President Obama, in order to immediately respond as strongly as possible, combined with the leadership that President Sirleaf provided in order to maximize Liberia’s own efforts with those of our partners.

And President Obama, as I think everybody knows, made a courageous decision early on to deploy 3,000 troops – American troops – at a time where there were questions about what would specifically be needed and how much could be done – in order to build treatment centers and assist in training health workers. The State Department, the USAID, the Center for Disease Control, the Department of Health and Human Services here in America all came together to play critical roles. And our assistance, including our food aid, totaled more than $1 billion. American NGOs were incredibly helpful. And the fact that the United States made such a broad commitment actually encouraged other countries to say we, too, need to join this fight, and they stepped up.

In responding to the crisis, the global community was indispensable. This was not something any one country was able to do by itself. But let me be clear: Our efforts, all of the global community’s efforts, would never have succeeded without the strong leadership in West Africa both at the national and at the local levels. And President Sirleaf herself was at the forefront of those leadership efforts. She acted with force and determination to educate her people about this disease, to marshal the resources, and to establish the right set of priorities and to make decisions on a daily basis that empowered the people who wanted to help to actually be able to do so.

So for their part, local healthcare workers risked, and in many cases gave their lives so that they could save many other lives and ease the pain of other people. Villagers and townspeople formed committees to set up hand-washing stations, quarantine households, to shield caregivers, to supervise burials, and to screen visitors. The result, quite frankly, has been absolutely astonishing. Last September, the CDC estimated by that this time – these were the estimates we were dealing with – more than a million cases might have been diagnosed. In fact, we are roughly at 1/50th of that number, and new cases in Liberia are down by more than 95 percent.

So this is remarkable news, good news at a moment where many people wonder about the ability of governance to be able to deliver good news at all. But the truth is as long as new infections are still being recorded, at even low levels, this cannot be declared over. Careful monitoring of every Ebola case and everyone in contact with infected patients is essential, and our goal is not to contain the disease, it is to defeat the disease. And that means zero new cases.

So today we continue to mourn the loss of so many people. But we’re also inspired by the difference that these months have made. Daily existence in Liberia and elsewhere in the region is no longer being held hostage to this disease. And body collection vehicles have disappeared from the streets. Schools that were closed have resumed classes. Liberia has reopened its borders and hope has returned to its citizens. And people, when they meet each other now, have begun shaking hands again.

So earlier this week the Millennium Development Corporation in Liberia signed a $2.8 million compact to assist with the recovery. And that was part of the conversation that the President and I had this morning. This is part of America’s ongoing commitment to Liberia, and it is one of – it is sort of a recognition of the fact that Liberia is also one of our staunchest allies in Africa.

Since the end of the civil war in 2003, the United States had invested more than 2 billion to help Liberia to rebuild and go forward. And even prior to the Ebola outbreak, the United States was the largest bilateral donor to Liberia’s health sector, working to increase the health sector capacity under programs such as the President’s malaria and global health initiatives, Feed the Future and the USAID Water and Development Strategy.

So Madam President, I’m told there’s an African proverb, “Rain does not fall on one roof alone.” And the meaning of that is obviously we’re all in this together. We have to stand together, and thousands of miles may separate our two countries, but for most of the past 168 years, the United States and Liberia have stood together, and that remains the case today. We both support democratic values and the development of inclusive societies. We both seek higher living standards through sustainable growth, and we share a commitment to human dignity and to peace both within and among nations.

So it’s been a great pleasure for me to able to share thoughts with you. I have admired you greatly and watched you from the distance, and we’ve said hello a couple times before, but I thank you today for the conversation we’ve had, and I look forward to continuing it at the White House shortly. Thank you, Madam President.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: Mr. Secretary, I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to meet with you, to exchange views. I come also to express on behalf of the Liberian people our deep appreciation for the support which we have received as we continue to fight this deadly virus. We want to thank President Obama for the strong leadership which he has shown, for the call to action that he has made. We thank the Administration; we thank the Congress in a bipartisan way for the support they’ve given to the Administration’s call for their support. And we thank the many U.S. institutions – NIH, CDC, the public health service, DART – all of those; the faith-based institutions, the American public at large, that all came together in a very strong partnership with us to be able to address and to fight this disease.

Last year was a difficult year for Liberia because we had and already obtained 10 consecutive years of peace, we had solved a lot of the problems that came out of two decades of war. We had addressed our debt issue, we were rebuilding our institutions, repairing our infrastructure, putting in the laws and the strategies that would’ve enabled us to be able to meet our Vision 2030 agenda, our agenda for transformation. When Ebola struck, the chances of all of that being wiped away confronted us.

In the early days, we did not know what to do. We were fearful, people died, our nurses and doctors who tried to treat what they thought were ordinary diseases such as malaria and yellow fever were confronted with something that they had no answer for. And I’m sure many people that looked at the television screen and saw Liberia as a place of disaster, everything was going wrong. But our people were resilient, and they were determined that we were not going to die, we’re not going to lose our livelihoods, we’re not going to reverse the gains that we have made. And so we all came together. We came together with not much capacity, not much resources, but came together with a great determination to save our nation and to ensure that we seize back the future that we had so carefully built over the past years. We could not do it without the partnership.

And the partnership that came from the United States galvanized and crystallized an international partnership that joined the United States in doing this, and this is why our message – it was a bold action, as you said, for the Administration to send military people out there, to send soldiers. That’s not something – we’ve never had boots on the ground in Liberia. It was the first time. But the landing of that just sent a big message to the Liberian people that the United States was really with us, and they provided the kind of service that have enhanced the capability of our own military because they worked together in building those centers.

The United States never closed to Liberia, even though we know there were great pressure on the part of a fearful citizen here, and we understood their fears because this was an unknown enemy to all of us. But President Obama and the Administration, supported by the Congress, stood firm and said, “We will continue to work with Liberia. We’ll continue to do this.” He went to the United Nations – you were there, I believe.

SECRETARY KERRY: Yes.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: And you all took a very strong stance. That message that went to the global community also engaged them. And so today, because of this strong partnership, we can say that we haven’t reached a place where we say we’re free of this disease, because we have neighboring countries and they send you the same messages of thanks and appreciation. But we have the place where we’re now confident that going forward, we can indeed get to zero for the required period, and we can indeed rebuild our health infrastructure, start our economic recovery even now as we try to get to zero, promote the regional support that ensures that all of our countries are free as a means of removing the threat that will remain if none of our countries are free.

To you, to the American people, we say thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you very much for a very eloquent and very personal statement. We thank you, appreciate it. I think we’ll be ready to take a few questions.

MS. PSAKI: Yes. Abigail Williams from NBC will be asking the questions today.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, what are your expectations for the second round of U.S.-Cuba talks here at the State Department today? Do you expect an embassy to be open within a matter of weeks or months? And the Cubans are saying that a precondition for opening or establishing full diplomatic relations is being removed from the state sponsor of terror list. Do you expect that to create a delay in opening the embassy, and why are they still on that list?

And Madam President, what more are you asking of the United States to help prepare for the next outbreak of a similar deadly disease?

SECRETARY KERRY: Do you want to go first? Go ahead, please.

PRESIDENT JOHNSON SIRLEAF: We’re asking for a continuation of the partnership, first to help us get to zero, and that means supporting our regional initiative. We’re asking that we work together in a dialogue to look at our economic recovery that will strengthen our health infrastructure, that will get us to continue with our prioritization of agriculture to feed ourselves. Infrastructure – making sure that we have the roads and the power systems and the clean water systems now that our schools are open. That through dialogue, through understanding, this partnership can prepare Liberia not only to prevent any possible reoccurrence, but enable us to deliver better health services and a better life to our people.

SECRETARY KERRY: Let me just say that we are very committed to working with our friends from Liberia in order to be able to maximize the possibility of economic recovery, which is critical, and it requires bringing the private sector back, it requires addressing the energy sector, building health infrastructure. There are a lot of moving parts, but we certainly feel – and I know President Obama shares this – that having put so much effort into stopping the disease, and now we really want to try to help provide the future that provides hope and a sense of possibility, and we will continue to work on that.

With respect to Cuba and the state sponsorship of terrorism, even as we are standing here now, negotiations are going on upstairs to deal with the issue of renewal of diplomatic relations. That’s one set of fairly normal negotiations with respect to movement of diplomats, access, travel, different things, the very sort of technical process. The state sponsorship of terrorism designation is a separate process. It is not a negotiation. It is an evaluation that is made under a very strict set of requirements congressionally mandated, and that has to be pursued separately, and it is being pursued separately. And we will wait for that normal process to be completed. It requires a finding that, over the course of the last six-month period, the country in question has not been engaged in supporting, aiding, abetting – different language – international terrorist acts. And that evaluation will be made appropriately, and nothing will be done with respect to the list until the evaluation is completed.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you all. Thank you, Madam President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S REMARKS ON EBOLA

FROM:  THE WHITE HOUSE
February 11, 2015
Remarks by the President on America's Leadership in the Ebola Fight
South Court Auditorium
1:46 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Applause.)  Please, everybody, have a seat.  Thank you.  Thank you, everybody.  Well, thank you, Rear Admiral Giberson, not only for the introduction, but for your leadership and your service.

Last summer, as Ebola spread in West Africa, overwhelming public health systems and threatening to cross more borders, I said that fighting this disease had to be more than a national security priority, but an example of American leadership.  After all, whenever and wherever a disaster or a disease strikes, the world looks to us to lead.  And because of extraordinary people like the ones standing behind me, and many who are in the audience, we have risen to the challenge.

Now, remember, there was no small amount of skepticism about our chances.  People were understandably afraid, and, if we’re honest, some stoked those fears.  But we believed that if we made policy based not on fear, but on sound science and good judgment, America could lead an effective global response while keeping the American people safe, and we could turn the tide of the epidemic.

We believed this because of people like Rear Admiral Giberson.  We believed this because of outstanding leaders like Dr. Raj Shah at USAID and Dr. Tom Frieden at the CDC.  (Applause.)  We believed it because of the men and women behind me and the many others here at home and who are still overseas who respond to challenges like this one not only with skill and professionalism, but with courage and with dedication.  And because of your extraordinary work, we have made enormous progress in just a few months.

So the main reason we’re actually here today is for me to say thank you.  Thank you to the troops and public health workers who left their loved ones to head into the heart of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa -- and many of them did so over the holidays.  Thank you to the health care professionals here at home who treated our returning heroes like Dr. Kent Brantly and Dr. Craig Spencer.  Thank you to Dr. Tony Fauci and Nancy Sullivan, and the incredible scientists at NIH, who worked long days and late nights to develop a vaccine.  All of you represent what is best about America and what’s possible when we lead.

And we’re also here to mark a transition in our fight against this disease -- not to declare mission accomplished, but to mark a transition.  Thanks to the hard work of our nearly 3,000 troops who deployed to West Africa, logistics have been set up, Ebola treatment units have been built, over 1,500 African health workers have been trained, and volunteers around the world gained the confidence to join the fight.  We were a force multiplier.  It wasn’t just what we put in; it’s the fact that when we put it in, people looked around and said, all right, America has got our back, so we’ll come too.  And as a result, more than 1,500 of our troops have been able to return.

Today, I’m announcing that by April 30th, all but 100 who will remain to help support the ongoing response, all but those hundred will also be able to come home -- not because the job is done, but because they were so effective in setting up the infrastructure, that we are now equipped to deal with the job that needs to be done in West Africa, not only with a broader, international coalition, but also with folks who have been trained who are from the countries that were most at risk.

So I want to be very clear here:  While our troops are coming home, America’s work is not done.  Our mission is not complete.  Today, we move into the next phase of the fight, winding down our military response while expanding our civilian response.  That starts here at home, where we’re more prepared to protect Americans from infectious disease, but still have more work to do.  For as long as Ebola simmers anywhere in the world, we will have some Ebola fighting heroes who are coming back home with the disease from time to time.  And that’s why we’re screening and monitoring all arrivals from affected countries.  We’ve equipped more hospitals with new protective gear and protocols.  We’ve developed partnerships with states and cities, thanks to public servants like Mayor Mike Rawlings and Judge Clay Jenkins of Dallas, Texas, who were on the front lines when the first case appeared here on our shores.

A few months ago, only 13 states had the capability to even test for Ebola.  Today, we have more than 54 labs in 44 states.  Only three facilities in the country were qualified to treat an Ebola patient.  Today, we have 51 Ebola treatment centers.  We have successfully treated eight Ebola patients here in the United States.  And we are grateful to be joined by six of these brave survivors today, including Dr. Richard Sacra, who received world-class care at Nebraska Medical Center -- and a plasma donation from Dr. Kent Brantly.  Then he returned to Liberia to treat non-Ebola patients who still need doctors.  That’s the kind of commitment and the kind of people we’re dealing with here.  (Applause.)

Meanwhile, in West Africa, it’s true that we have led a massive global effort to combat this epidemic.  We mobilized other countries to join us in making concrete, significant commitments to fight this disease, and to strengthen global health systems for the long term.  In addition to the work of our troops, our USAID DART teams have directed the response.  Our CDC disease detectives have traced contacts.  Our health care workers and scientists helped contain the outbreak.  Our team is providing support for 10,000 civilian responders on the ground.

That’s what Brett Sedgewick did.  Where’s Brett?  There here is.  (Laughter.)  So Brett went to Liberia with Global Communities, which is an NGO that partnered with us to respond to Ebola.  Brett supported safe-burial teams that traveled to far-flung corners of Liberia to ensure that those who lost their lives to Ebola were carefully, safely, and respectfully buried so that they could not transmit the disease to anyone else.  And Brett reflects the spirit of so many volunteers when he said, “If you need me, just say the word.”  That’s a simple but profound statement.

That’s who we are -- big-hearted and optimistic, reflecting the can-do spirit of the American people.  That’s our willingness to help those in need.  They’re the values of Navy Lieutenant Andrea McCoy and her team.  Andrea, raise your hand so that I don’t look -- (laughter).  Andrea and her team deployed some seven tons of equipment, processed over 1,800 blood samples.  They’re the values that drive Commander Billy Pimentel.  Where’s Billy?  Raise your hand.

COMMANDER PIMENTEL:  Here, sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you, sir.  (Laughter.)  Like that Navy can-do attitude.

He led a team of Naval microbiologists to set up mobile laboratories that can diagnose Ebola within four hours.  And he said, “It has been an honor for us to use our skills to make a difference.”

These values -- American values -- matter to the world.  At the Monrovia Medical Unit in Liberia -- built by American troops; staffed by Rear Admiral Giberson and his team from the U.S. Public Health Service Corps -- a nurse’s aide named Rachael Walker went in for treatment, and left Ebola-free.  And I want you to listen to what Rachael’s sister said about all of you.  “We were worried at first,” she said, “but when we found out [Rachael] was being transferred to the American Ebola treatment unit, we thanked God first and then we thanked America second for caring about us.”

And the Americans who she was speaking of aren’t just doctors or nurses, or soldiers or scientists.  You’re what one lieutenant commander from the U.S. Public Health Service Corps called the “hope multipliers.”  And you’ve multiplied a lot of hope.  Last fall, we saw between 800 and 1,000 new cases a week. Today, we’re seeing between 100 and 150 cases a week -- a drop of more than 80 percent.  Liberia has seen the best progress, Sierra Leone is moving in the right direction, Guinea has the longest way left to go.

Our focus now is getting to zero.  Because as long as there is even one case of Ebola that’s active out there, risks still exist.  Every case is an ember that, if not contained, can light a new fire.  So we’re shifting our focus from fighting the epidemic to now extinguishing it.

The reason we can do that is because of a bipartisan majority in Congress, including some of the members who are here today, who approved funding to power this next phase in our response.  And I want to thank those members of Congress who are here for the outstanding work that they did.  (Applause.)  One of them, Chris Coons, recently traveled to the region and saw firsthand that we have to continue this fight in Africa.

So while our troops are coming home, plenty of American heroes remain on the ground, with even more on the way.  Doctors and nurses are still treating patients, CDC experts are tracking cases, NIH teams are testing vaccines, USAID workers are in the field, and countless American volunteers are on the front lines.  And while I take great pride in the fact that our government organized this effort -- and I particularly want to thank Secretary Burwell and her team at Health and Human Services for the outstanding work that they did -- we weren’t working alone.  I just had a chance to meet with some leading philanthropists who did so much, and are now committed to continuing the work and finding new ways in which we can build platforms not only to finish the job with respect to Ebola, but also to be able to do more effective surveillance, prevention, and quick response to diseases in the future.  

Other nations have joined the fight, and we’re going to keep working together -- because our common security depends on all of us.  That’s why we launched the Global Health Security Agenda last year to bring more nations together to better prevent and detect and respond to future outbreaks before they become epidemics.  This was a wakeup call, and why it’s going to be so important for us to learn lessons from what we’ve done and sustain it into the future.

And in the 21st century, we cannot built moats around our countries.  There are no drawbridges to be pulled up.  We shouldn’t try.  What we should do is instead make sure everybody has basic health systems -- from hospitals to disease detectives to better laboratory networks -- (applause) -- all of which allows us to get early warnings against outbreaks of diseases.  This is not charity.  The investments we make overseas are in our self-interest -- this is not charity; we do this because the world is interconnected -- in the same way that the investments we make in NIH are not a nice-to-do, they are a must-do.  We don’t appreciate basic science and all these folks in lab coats until there’s a real problem and we say, well, do we have a cure for that, or can we fix it?  And if we haven't made those investments, if we’ve neglected them, then they won’t be there when we need them.

So as we transition into a new phase in this fight, make no mistake -- America is as committed as ever, I am as committed as ever to getting to zero.  And I know we can.  And I know this because of the people who stand behind me and the people out in the audience.  I know this because of people like Dr. William Walters.  William, you here?

DR. WALTERS:  Sir.

THE PRESIDENT:  Thank you.  (Laughter.)

Dr. Walters is the Director of Operational Medicine at the State Department.  Last summer, he was called to help move Dr. Kent Brantly -- who’s here -- back to the United States for treatment.  And Dr. Walters says the first thing he did was to Google Dr. Brantly.  (Laughter.)  A little plug for Google there.  I know we got some -- (laughter.)  And the first picture he saw was of Kent and his family.

Now, remember, the decision to move Kent back to the United States was controversial.  Some worried about bringing the disease to our shores.  But what folks like William knew was that we had to make the decisions based not on fear, but on science.  And he knew that we needed to take care of our heroes who had sacrificed so much to save the lives of others in order for us to continue to get people to make that kind of commitment.  They had to know we had their backs in order for us to effectively respond.  And so, as William said, “We do the work we do to impact something bigger than ourselves.”  We do the work we do to impact something bigger than ourselves.

That’s the test of American leadership.  We have this extraordinary military.  We have an extraordinary economy.  We have unbelievable businesses.  But what makes us exceptional is when there’s a big challenge and we hear somebody saying it’s too hard to tackle, and we come together as a nation and prove you wrong.  That’s true whether it’s recession, or war, or terrorism.  There are those who like to fan fears.  But over the long haul, America does not succumb to fear.  We master the moment with bravery and courage, and selflessness and sacrifice, and relentless, unbending hope.  That’s what these people represent.  That’s what’s best in us.  And we have to remember that, because there will be other circumstances like this in the future.

We had three weeks in which all too often we heard science being ignored, and sensationalism, but you had folks like this who were steady and focused, and got the job done.  And we’re lucky to have them, and we have to invest in them.

So I want to thank all of you for proving again what America can accomplish.  God bless you.  God bless the United States of America.  Thank you.  (Applause.)
 
END
2:03 P.M. EST

AMBASSADOR POWER'S REMARKS ON UNDERDEVELOPMENT AS IT RELATES TO PEACE AND SECURITY

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Remarks by Ambassador Samantha Power, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, at a Security Council Debate on Inclusive Development for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations 
New York, NY
January 19, 2015
AS DELIVERED

Thank you, President Bachelet, for chairing this critically important session, and for Chile’s leadership on these issues and many others in the Council and around the world. Thank you, as well, for your lifelong efforts – including during your tenure here as director of UN Women, and as Chilean President – to advance the causes of development and peace. Thanks also to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee, we can all see why you have made the difference that you have in Liberia and well beyond. You are truly formidable. And thank you Mr. Secretary-General and Ambassador Patriota for your very important contributions.

As threats to international peace and security have evolved, so has the Council’s conception of them. Consider two of the great crises we face today: the Ebola epidemic and violent extremism. While neither represents the kind of risk that may have been imagined by the architects of the United Nations, each threatens the stability and prosperity of multiple countries. And both highlight the way that underdevelopment can pose a risk to peace and security. One of the main reasons that Ebola spread as quickly as it did in West Africa – and has killed such a high proportion of the people that it has infected – is the acute underdevelopment of the public health systems in the affected countries. And as President Obama observed in his remarks before the General Assembly in September, violent extremist groups have found their most fertile recruiting grounds “in the Middle East and North Africa, where a quarter of young people have no job, where food and water could grow scarce, where corruption is rampant and sectarian conflicts have become increasingly hard to contain.”

The connection between development and peace and security extends beyond Ebola and violent extremism. The average civil war sets back a medium-sized developing country more than 30 years in terms of economic growth, trade levels after major violence take an average of 20 years to recover, and the global economic impact of stemming such violence is estimated at 9.5 trillion dollars, or approximately 11 percent of the Gross World Product. These figures show what should be clear to all: the economic and social health of countries is intrinsically linked to their ability to secure and maintain peace. More than 80 percent of extremely poor people – those who survive on less than a dollar a day – are expected to live in countries affected by conflict and chronic violence by 2025. We know that this is not a challenge we can ignore. We have to do something more.

One place to start is with women and girls. Leymah’s story is testament to the critical goal that women can play in advancing peace and security. In the middle of Liberia’s second brutal civil war, she rallied thousands of women to pray for peace, and founded a group that staged weeks-long non-violent protests calling for an end to the conflict. Women’s activism helped build grassroots pressure on Liberia’s president at the time, Charles Taylor, to engage in peace talks with rebels. When those talks faltered, she and 200 women formed a human chain to prevent the government and the rebels from leaving the negotiating table. Of course, the government and the rebels could have pushed their way through that chain. But the women’s symbolic demand for peace, together with international pressure, helped keep both sides at the negotiating table, and within weeks they reached a deal.

If we agree that international peace and security is bound up with inclusive development, it follows that one of the best ways for the international community to consolidate peace, and to help end conflict, is to bridge enduring development gaps.

That is why, in addition to investing unprecedented resources in stopping the Ebola outbreak at its source, and in leaving the affected countries with stronger public health systems than they had before the outbreak – including the efforts of more than 3,000 American engineers, epidemiologists, doctors, and others on the ground, mainly in Liberia, President Obama has launched the Global Health Security Agenda. The GHSA is aimed at preparing countries to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to outbreaks before they become epidemics. During a meeting with President Obama last September, 43 countries joined us in announcing more than 100 specific commitments to strengthen global health security, together with the WHO and other international institutions.

That is why we have invested so much time in the Post-2015 development agenda, which aims for inclusive and equitable development that leaves no one behind in any country – developing or developed – and not only in terms of gender equality and global health, but across other areas such as education, water and sanitation, sustainable energy, and inclusive and responsive governance. That is why the United States has strongly advocated for Goal 16, which focuses on promoting peaceful and inclusive societies, providing access to justice for all, and building accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. If we can achieve this goal – through reducing corruption, promoting universal free and legal identity, and ensuring public access to information – we can ensure that the UN’s next development agenda will help empower those who need it most.

And this is why, in Afghanistan, we have invested robustly in ensuring that women and girls are more fully integrated into Afghan society. Since 2001, school enrollment there has increased tenfold, with nearly 10 million children now signed up, 40 percent of whom are girls. Maternal mortality has fallen from 16 percent to 3 percent. And today women hold 28 percent of the Afghan Parliament’s seats – a higher proportion than in my own country. All of these investments, all of this progress, not only make women more equal partners in Afghanistan’s future, but they give Afghanistan far brighter prospects for a more secure and prosperous future.

Today, as has been said, we commemorate the life of another Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and one of the world’s greatest human rights champions – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In one of his last speeches, Dr. King spoke of what he called, “the Other America” – a country he contrasted with the America of opportunity and equality. The Other America, he said, had a “daily ugliness about it that transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair.” Dr. King spoke of men without work; of families living in miserable conditions; of children denied access to a quality education. And he spoke of how such inequality posed an enduring obstacle to American prosperity, calling on all Americans to bridge these gaps.

It has been nearly fifty years since Dr. King spoke to the need to address these gaps in the United States, and yet so many of the gaps persist, here in the United States and around the world. His call to action is as resonant and urgent today as when he first made it. We must do everything in our power to do our part to fulfill it.

Thank you.

SCIENTIST STUDYING ECONOMIC IMPACT OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES

FROM:  NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION
Ebola, Dengue fever, Lyme disease: The growing economic cost of infectious diseases

Five new such diseases expected each year; strategies to reduce climate change adaptable to infectious diseases.

Emerging pandemic disease outbreaks such as Ebola increasingly threaten global public health and world economies, scientists say. We can expect five new such diseases each year, into the future.

And expect them to spread. The tropical disease dengue fever, for example, has made its way to Florida and Texas, seemingly to stay.

But the global response to infectious diseases is often too late to prevent major effects on health and economic growth, researchers believe.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people infected with Ebola has surpassed 17,000, with more than 6,000 deaths. The World Bank now estimates that the two-year financial cost of Ebola may reach $32.6 billion and force some already suffering West African economies into a deep recession.

Growing economic cost of global disease outbreaks

Scientists at EcoHealth Alliance in New York and other organizations studied the economic cost of such global disease outbreaks.

Economists, disease ecologists and others collaborated on an in-depth economic analysis of strategies to address pandemic threats in a proactive way--rather than a reactive response to a crisis. The results are published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Our research shows that new approaches to reducing emerging pandemic threats at the source would be more cost-effective than trying to mobilize a global response after a disease has emerged," says Peter Daszak, senior author of the paper and president of EcoHealth Alliance.

The researchers used economic modeling to analyze two strategies for a pandemic response: Current business-as-usual approaches that rely on global surveillance to identify new diseases in people, and new "mitigation" strategies to reduce the underlying drivers of emerging diseases and lower the risk of their emergence.

"Our economic modeling demonstrates that the new approach to dealing with disease emergence is the right strategy in the long-term," says Jamie Pike, an economist at EcoHealth Alliance and first author of the paper.

The results indicate that the strategy for pandemics needs to be coordinated on a global scale to be effective in reducing risk. And that mitigation strategies will be far more cost-effective in the long-term.

The results follow those reported in a September, 2014, paper in the journal EcoHealth, in which Daszak, Charles Perrings of Arizona State University, A. Marm Kilpatrick of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and colleagues show that economic epidemiology has the potential to improve predictions of the course of infectious diseases, and to support new approaches to management of such diseases.

Environmental change causing increase in number of new diseases

Ebola. West Nile virus. Lyme disease. All are infectious diseases spreading in animals, and in humans. Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?

With 60 percent of all human diseases and 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases involving animal-to-human transmission, the underlying factors that contribute to disease outbreaks are mostly related to environmental changes to global ecosystems, the scientists found. Deforestation and illegal wildlife trade are two culprits.

Large-scale environmental events alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and animals.

"Virtually all the world's terrestrial and aquatic communities have undergone dramatic changes in biodiversity due primarily to habitat transformations such as deforestation and agricultural intensification, invasions of exotic species, chemical contamination, and climate change events," says Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) program director for the joint NSF-NIH-USDA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program, which funded the research.

Ebola epidemic highlights need to address infectious disease threats

"The current Ebola epidemic highlights the need to anticipate possible health threats from these changes," says Scheiner. "This study shows that the long-term economic benefits outweigh the short-term costs, not to mention the human benefits of preventing the next pandemic."

Rapid changes to the environment are resulting in a continuous year-by-year increase in the number of new diseases emerging, the researchers found.

"With continued pressure causing diseases to rise, we need to analyze the ecological and economic foundations of the risk, and identify economically effective strategies to reduce it," says David Finnoff, an economist at the University of Wyoming and co-author of the PNAS paper.

The paper highlights WHO International Health Regulations goals, and points out that the global capacity to achieve such targets needs to be addressed to deal with the continuous rise in the rate of new diseases.

Five new diseases each year into the future

"We show that we can expect more than five new emerging diseases each year into the future," says Daszak.

"With this continuous rise in the pandemic threat, and our increasing global connectivity, we are at a critical moment in history to act."

-- Cheryl Dybas, NSF

DOD THREAT REDUCTION AGENCY BUILDING RESPONSE TO EBOLA OUTBREAK

FROM:  U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT 
DoD Threat Reduction Agency Builds Anti-Ebola Capacity
By Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8, 2014 – The Defense Department agency whose mission is to reduce biological, chemical and other threats to troops worldwide began ramping up its response early in the Ebola outbreak and now, with many partners, is steadily building capabilities in Liberia as it extends capacity into Sierra Leone and Mali.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, known as DTRA, protects the United States and its allies from chemical, biological, nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.

The fast-moving nature of West Africa’s Ebola crisis, which so far accounts for 17,145 cases of Ebola virus disease and at least 6,070 deaths, according to the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has driven the need for constant, close collaboration within DTRA itself and among U.S. agencies, entities such as U.S. Africa Command, international organizations and private companies.

One of Many Stakeholders

DTRA Deputy Director Air Force Maj. Gen. John P. Horner recently spoke with DoD News about DTRA’s Ebola response in support of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, the U.S. lead for Ebola efforts in West Africa.

“DTRA is one of many stakeholders -- we are not necessarily the lead for any of this,” Horner said. “But between our [research, testing, development and evaluation] efforts and providing protective gear, diagnostic capabilities and vaccines, to modeling and analysis and data-sharing capabilities, we’ve made a lot of contributions” with a range of partners.

These include CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services, the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, many other U.S. interagency partners, and international partners that include the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders.

Together, DTRA and its partners provide support to Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa and contribute assay development and laboratory services, funding and capacity building to fight this and future deadly outbreaks.

In the Realm of Basic Research

Dr. Ronald K. Hann Jr., director of research and development in the Chemical and Biological Technologies Department, described the process for DTRA’s work on Ebola diagnostic assays.

“Here at DTRA we work in the realm of basic research up through developing prototypes, but we aren't the ones who do the follow-on procurement, life-cycle management or distribution,” he explained.

“We try to anticipate threats in the future and make sure we have resources prepared to meet those threats,” Hann added.

As products progress, DTRA works directly with its DoD acquisition partner, the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense in Maryland, or with interagency partners such as the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, or BARDA, part of HHS, and the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID.

“We work in an early discovery role, up through prototypes,” Hann said. “Often we’re looking to answer the question, can I do a certain thing, not necessarily whether it’s the best or cheapest way to do it. Looking to make something more cost efficient or how to mass produce it, those are questions that go on to our interagency partners … who carry the product further.”
Threat Detection and Surveillance

Dr. Richard Schoske, chief of the diagnostic detection and threat surveillance division in the Chemical and Biological Technologies Department, described DTRA’s role in diagnostic development.

As far back as 2010, Schoske said, the agency and its advanced developers funded and developed more than seventy assays to detect 19 different pathogens such as hemorrhagic fever viruses like Ebola and Marburg that are both filoviruses.

The assays received pre-Emergency Use Authorization from the Food and Drug Administration. Pre-EUA is a step toward EUA, which allows unapproved medical products to be used in an emergency to diagnose, treat or prevent serious diseases.

Generally, Schoske said, DTRA provides funding to the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, and scientists there do further development and present packages of information about the assays to the advanced developer -- the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical and Biological Defense.

Then the JPEO-CBD and DTRA’s Cooperative Biological Engagement Program, or CBEP, partners fund the manufacturing, procurement and distribution to analytic laboratories like the ones DTRA is putting in place in Liberia, Schoske said.

“Those are the assays currently being used by laboratories, in West Africa,” he added.

Labs in Sierra Leone, Assessment in Mali

Now, at Sierra Leone’s request and with CBEP funding and DTRA’s international partners, the agency is moving two contractor-staffed diagnostic labs into Sierra Leone and helping build capacity in that country to deal with Ebola and other infectious diseases.

CBEP division chief Dr. Lance Brooks said the labs will go out in stages. One is expected to be ready by the end of December and full operating capability is expected by early January.

Also in the region, DTRA, with CDC and the State Department’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, has sent an assessment team to Mali, the most recent West African country affected by the Ebola epidemic.

Major General Horner said one of DTRA’s most critical capabilities as a combat support agency is “our agility in terms of working with our lawmakers and colleagues at the Pentagon to get money programmed and on a contract in a hurry.”

He added, “As part of [President Barack Obama’s] Global Health Security Agenda we will sustain our efforts and the capabilities we are putting forward into the future as part of our medical countermeasures-biosurveillance effort.”
Dr. Ronald Meris, branch chief for DTRA Technical Reachback, where modeling is performed for Ebola and other infectious diseases, said, “If we could go out on a limb I would say our modeling is showing that the U.S. government response is making a difference in West Africa.”

He added, “I would say the rate of uptick is lower with each bit of interdiction we do to help combat this [outbreak] and build capacity in the countries. So I'm not going to say that it's a good news story yet but I'm saying the response is taking hold.”

SECRETARY KERRY'S PRESS AVAILABILITY IN BRUSSELS, BELGIUM

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 
Press Availability in Brussels, Belgium
Press Availability
John Kerry
Secretary of State
NATO Headquarters
Brussels, Belgium
December 3, 2014

SECRETARY KERRY: Good afternoon and thanks, everybody, for being here. And thanks for your patience.

In less than three months, the international community has come together to form a coalition that is already taking important steps to degrade and defeat ISIL, or Daesh. And today was an opportunity for representatives from about 60 members of the anti-ISIL coalition to come together, share their views, receive updates on coalition efforts, make suggestions about the roadmap ahead, and discuss as carefully as possible the pluses and minuses of the strategy engaged and what needs to be done to accomplish our goals going forward.

It was absolutely clear in the comments of everybody, particularly the prime minister of Iraq and his team, that we have made already significant progress in two and a half months. But we also acknowledge there is a lot more work yet to be done. Daesh is still perpetrating terrible crimes, but there was a consensus that the momentum which it had exhibited two and a half months ago has been halted, that it has been forced to modify its tactics – and some of those modifications severely hampering their ability to operate in the way that they were, certainly – that their hold on territory has been challenged already, and their finances have been strained, and in almost every media market that exists, and certainly within the region, their message is being denounced. Their message of hate is being challenged in public meeting places, in mosques across the globe. This clearly represents a multifaceted effort, which is precisely what we defined in the earliest days of suggesting that we would build a coalition and the coalition would take on Daesh.

Now, while airstrikes may capture the headlines – and there have been more than 1,000 of them thus far – this is far more than simply a military coalition. And it will not be successful, we all agree, if it were to rely on military alone, which it does not. Destroying Daesh is going to require defeating the ideology – the funding, the recruitment, and the devastation that they’ve been able to inflict on people in the region. And these are the areas that were really the primary focus of today’s discussion.

During this morning’s meeting, we reviewed the progress in each of our five lines of effort and came together in issuing a joint statement, all countries signing on, that underscores our unity and our firm support for our partners and our absolute determination to succeed. Participants noted the gains that we have made across all of the lines of effort – defeating ISIL on the battlefield, restricting its finances, enacting laws to restrict the flow of foreign fighters, and countering its toxic ideology.

The long-term success of the effort in Iraq is key to the success of the coalition. And today we heard directly from Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi, whose government yesterday revealed and reached a long-sought agreement, a landmark oil deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government. The prime minister also provided an update on the fight against Daesh in Iraq and on his broader reform agenda, including an executive order that he just issued to begin important changes in the criminal justice system of Iraq. Nothing will do more to defeat Daesh than an Iraq that is united and has more representative and effective security forces.

Now, obviously there’s a lot more work ahead. But the prime minister has taken steps to unite the country, including outreach to Sunni tribes. He has taken steps to root out corruption and to reform the Iraqi Security Forces and to take on the threat that Daesh represents. I think it’s fair to say that all of the foreign ministers, ambassadors, representatives who were there today came away impressed by Prime Minister Abadi and by what he has accomplished today, which is the down payment on the roadmap that he laid out for the future.

Earlier today, I participated in a meeting on the complex situation in Libya. And later we – I had a bilateral wide-ranging discussion at lunch with EU High Representative Federica Mogherini. And we talked about all of the key issues in the transatlantic agenda – trade, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; the energy security challenges; the opportunities presented by these energy challenges, which really represent game-changing set of possibilities with respect to the movement of liquefied natural gas, also alternative and renewable energy possibilities. We also talked about support for Ukraine, the Middle East, Libya, Syria, Iraq, and the challenge of Ebola.

And I ended the day just now by attending a meeting of the EU-U.S. Energy Council, where we talked about the major possibilities for realignment with respect to energy security, environment issues, climate change, all of the possibilities that the energy agenda provide us in terms of a new marketplace with new job opportunities, new technologies, an enormous kick to the economy, as well as increases in security – environment security, energy security, health security, and the economy itself.

We reviewed progress in facilitating the reverse gas flows and the EU effort to reach an accord on natural gas supplies with Ukraine and Russia, which was a very important step which we congratulate the EU on taking. And second, we talked about the overall challenge of European energy security, which requires regulatory cooperation, investments in infrastructure, and an intensive commitment to sustainable technology.

And finally, we talked about the urgency of further breakthroughs on climate change itself. The EU took the important step earlier in the fall of putting out publicly its targets for 2015 at the Paris conference. We recently came back, President Obama and myself and our team, from a bilateral series of meetings in China where we were able to agree with China on setting certain kinds of goals. We’re continuing that work not only with China, but with other countries with the hopes of having an impact on the meeting in Peru, which I will attend later next week, and which will be the lead-in to a year of important focus on climate change and high hopes for success in Paris next December.

With the ongoing meetings in Peru and what will follow over the course of the next year and the U.S. President, President Obama’s, pledge of a contribution of $3 billion to the Green Climate Fund and the EU’s early commitments, we believe that we are making clear that the Obama Administration and the United States are all in on this issue and committed to try to take steps that are long overdue. We intend to continue to try to build momentum moving into next year, and we believe that not only is there obviously the practical advantage of responding to the events, to the transformation taking place in the climate that is contributing to very severe weather events, to major flooding, major fires, major drought, to shifts in agriculture and other impacts that have huge cost, but we believe it is becoming more and more evident that it is cheaper to invest in the new technologies and move to the clean energy economy. And we are going to continue to work for that.

So with that, I’d be pleased to respond to your questions with respect to any of the topics that I touched on.

MS. PSAKI: The first question will be from Lara Jakes of the Associated Press.

QUESTION: Actually, I’m not asking a question today.

MS. PSAKI: Oh, I’m sorry. Oh, I’m sorry. Michael Gordon of The New York Times. All right.

QUESTION: On behalf of Lara Jakes. (Laughter.)

MS. PSAKI: Okay.

QUESTION: He’s prettier than I am.

QUESTION: If – sir, if Iraqi forces are successful with U.S. and allied air support in retaking Mosul, Fallujah, and other populated areas in what could be block-to-block fighting, Iraq will likely confront the need for a major reconstruction effort, and Iraq may also face pressing humanitarian needs as civilians will need to get through the winter in newly reclaimed areas.

What assistance did Prime Minister Abadi seek during his meetings with you and other partners in terms of help with reconstruction, humanitarian assistance, and also additional military training and equipment? What is this likely to cost? Hundreds of millions of dollars, billions? And is the United States and the international community prepared to meet those needs? Will there be another donor conference or another international meeting? How do you plan to proceed?

SECRETARY KERRY: Well, Michael, it’s a really good question, and very important to the road ahead. The subject absolutely came up. Prime Minister Abadi himself put the topic of reconstruction on the table. And I’m happy to say that a number of Gulf states which have capacity on their own have engaged in this discussion with Prime Minister Abadi and the Iraqis. I think it’s up to them to identify themselves, but we are particularly excited about the prospect of having the region engage in a significant way across sectarian lines, I might add, in order to be able to address this reconstruction notion.

So I don’t think this is something where Americans or Europeans or others have to recoil and say, “Oh my God, we’re going to be facing this monumental task of rebuilding yet another place when we have our own challenges.” Might we have to contribute to it? Sure, we ought to. It’s part of our foreign policy and it’s part of our engagement. But I’m excited by the prospect that already, for instance, Saudi Arabia has made half a billion dollars available before we even fully engaged in this effort as a sign of good faith in an effort to try to say to the people of Iraq that they could cross the sectarian divide and offer humanitarian assistance.

Now there were a number of countries in the region that are talking about a further reconstruction fund that would specifically help to rebuild as the country is taken back from the clasp – the unwanted clasp of the terrorists who are controlling a significant portion of Anbar and other parts of Iraq at this moment. So I’m very, very hopeful that that will take place and it will be a natural outgrowth of this coalition as it meets in the days ahead, and as we plan for the roadmap.

It won’t do any good, obviously, if you simply reclaim a town and the folks in that town have worse or less opportunities than they may have had before and life is even harder. So part of winning this back – and this is what we’ve been saying from day one – is not just the task of the military campaign; it’s the campaign that goes on every day thereafter in providing a government that is responsive, that is inclusive, that is pluralistic, that is freeing itself from any clutches of corruption that may or may not exist. That’s what we want to see, and that effort is very much part of the planning stage at this early moment.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Sangwon Yoon of Bloomberg News.

QUESTION: U.S. – the Pentagon said that it believes that Iran carried out several airstrikes in Iraq’s Diyala province in the past couple of days. Are you aware of these strikes? Do you welcome such Iranian air missions in Iraq? Do you think they’re helpful to the fight against ISIL or do you think that it’d be better if Iran avoids these actions?

And also, in your opening remarks today in the meeting, you talked about the importance of having a dialogue to share best thoughts, about ways to do things better and plan carefully. Now, notwithstanding these Iranian airstrikes in Diyala, Iran’s role in fighting ISIS in Iraq has been growing. Has the time come now for the U.S. and the coalition to start directly coordinating efforts in order to maximize the global campaign to defeat and degrade ISIL?

SECRETARY KERRY: Let me answer that – both parts of that question. First of all, I’m not going to make any announcements or confirm or deny the reported military action of another country in Iraq. It’s up to them or up to the Iraqis to do that, if it indeed took place. We are obviously flying our missions over Iraq and we coordinate those missions with the Iraqi Government. And we rely on the Iraqi Government to deconflict whatever control of their airspace may in fact need that deconfliction.

So nothing has changed in our fundamental policy of not coordinating our military activity or other activities at this moment with Iranians. We’re not doing that. And we are not – not only not coordinating militarily right now, but there are no plans at this time to coordinate militarily. I think it’s self-evident that if Iran is taking on ISIL in some particular place and it’s confined to taking on ISIL and it has an impact, it’s going to be – the net effect is positive. But that’s not something that we’re coordinating. The Iraqis have the overall responsibility for their own ground and air operations, and what they choose to do is up to them.

MS. PSAKI: The next question will be from Noureddine Fridhi of Al-Arabiya.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary, I have a couple of questions, if you don’t mind. In these meetings, there – are they new commitments regarding the moderate opposition, Syrian moderate opposition, in terms of supporting them by equipment, training, on political level?

And my second question is about the issue of there is no-fly zone until now, as the Turkish are asking. But do you see yourself alternatives for the Turkish side to protect its border of the country from these borders, thousand foreign fighters entered into Syria, sir?

SECRETARY KERRY: Yeah. Well, regarding the issue of new commitments with respect to the Syrian opposition, the answer is simply that this meeting was about ISIL/ISIS/Daesh. This meeting was not about the Syrian opposition and the other parts of that struggle. Did it come up? Was it discussed? Yes. Did some countries talk about their concerns about the regime? Absolutely, but it was not with any sense of division. This was a united group here to deal with the challenge of Daesh. And while people expressed an opinion regarding the regime, as you saw, there was a completely unified communique, which understood clearly what the mission was that brought people here today.

Now in the course of – even the communique mentions the opposition and talks about the continued support for the opposition – moderate opposition, that is – and that will continue, and everybody understands who’s committed to that and who’s engaged in that direct effort. But there was no specific plus-up with respect to that.

On the issue of no-fly zone and so forth, the United States remains extremely engaged in its discussions with Turkey. Turkey, as everybody knows, is a NATO ally. It is a very important coalition partner. It is an absolute – it has a border with Syria, it has critical impacts because of what is happening in Syria, and a deep stake in the outcome of what is going on there. And therefore, we are having a very serious discussion with Turkey.

Vice President Biden was just there. He had a long discussion with President Erdogan; long discussion with Prime Minister Davutoglu. Prime Minister Davutoglu just visited Iraq. There’s a lot of discussion going on about the way we will go forward. But it is premature to suggest at this moment of time that we are close to making a decision or moving forward with any form of a safe zone or a buffer zone at this moment in time. But we are continuing our discussions with our Turkish allies in order to have conversations about how we best bolster security in the region and deal with the problem of Syria.

And it is no secret that the United States continues to believe that President Assad has lost all legitimacy, that the regime will not be able to find peace in Iraq as long as – in Syria as long as Assad remains in power. There needs to be some kind of transition. We know it’s not going to happen through a military, direct process, so there has to be a political solution. And we’re looking still for the way to engage all of the countries in the region in an effort to achieve what was originally laid out in Geneva. That remains the operative objective.

MS. PSAKI: Thank you, everyone.

SECRETARY KERRY: That’s it. Thank you all. Appreciate it. Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS AT WORLD AIDS DAY EVENT

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at a World AIDS Day Event
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Eisenhower Executive Office Building
Washington, DC
December 1, 2014

Susan, thank you.  Thank you for a wonderfully generous introduction and thank you most importantly for your extremely important comments this morning.  And I was really sitting there thinking, as I was listening to you, the thought was occurring to me as we think of the challenges that we face in today’s world, and you were talking about both the moral compulsion of doing this as well as making the important new announcements that you were making.  And as I think about the things we do in the world, whether it’s the fact that we are the largest contributor to refugees with respect to the problem of Syria, or whether we are leading a charge to try to deal with Ebola now in addition to other things, but of all the things in the world that the United States can take pride in, this has to be one of the single biggest and most important.  This is such an incredible statement about America’s values, about our commitment, about our willingness to take on tough challenges.  And for all the nations who push back, the fact is we are making a difference and we are getting it done.

And I thank you personally, Susan, because your commitment to fighting this epidemic goes back decades.  I know that when you were head of African Affairs in the State Department, you were way ahead of the curve, not just defining this as a health crisis but also as a human rights crisis.  And I thank you for that.  You’ve wrestled with many of the real-time challenges that we face here for a long time, from expanding treatment capacity to access to building a long-term delivery system, and we are very grateful for your leadership and for the President’s leadership.  It continues.

I want to thank Secretary Burwell.  And I think it’s fair to say that the AIDS outreach led by the Secretary and HHS literally sets the gold standard globally, and we’re very proud of that.  I’m also grateful to Valerie Jarrett, to Tony Fauci, to Rajiv Shah, to Debbi Birx sitting here.  Debbi, thanks for your great job.  Mark Dybul, thank you for what you’re doing.  Dana Hyde, Gayle Smith, everybody – it’s such a team effort.  And I think we all can take pride in what the Peace Corps is doing, the MCC, DOD.  This is an all-hands-on-deck initiative.

There are so many AIDS warriors here in this room, and those of you tuned in who are livestreaming – scientists and public servants, and Republicans and Democrats, across all ideologies and lines – all of whom have put ideology and partisanship aside in order to embrace a universal vision.  And it’s a vision that is much bigger than any of us individually and bigger than any country.

As this gathering knows better than anybody, the fight against HIV/AIDS, as Susan just underscored, does remain an enduring challenge.  But thanks to landmark scientific advances, and frankly, thanks to the grit and determination of so many of you here in this room, the fact is we do have, as the President said, an AIDS-free generation in sight.  That is, in and of itself, an absolutely remarkable accomplishment.

And I will tell you, Susan referred to the days in the Senate – back in 1991, when Bill Frist and I had the privilege of chairing a Center for Strategic and International Studies first-ever task force on this subject that we knew precious little about, it was even difficult politically for some people to talk about it publicly.  The barrier was enormous.  And back then, the primary response to HIV/AIDS was fear – fear of contracting it, fear of those who had it, fear that in some cases even learning about it or taking steps to contain or to stop it might somehow be dangerous.

As recently as 10 years ago, as Susan said – she mentioned also a five-year demarcation point which is quite critical with respect to President Obama’s commitment to take this to a new level – it seemed like this would be a death sentence for an entire continent.  That’s how we looked at it.  And many predicted that the virus was beyond our control and that there was no way that we could possibly turn the tide.

Well, the tide is turning.  And it’s not a done deal, we know that.  This morning at our meeting in the State Department, Raj Shah cautioned all of us, and so did Debbi, about the challenges that are ahead.  But make no mistake, because of your efforts we are now reaching more people and saving more lives than ever before.

And when the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief first was launched in 2003, there were then some 10,000 infections daily.  Today, new HIV infections are down by nearly 40 percent, though still higher, obviously, than we want them to be.  Back then, more than 2 million people died from AIDS-related causes on a worldwide basis.  Today, we’ve cut those numbers by 34 percent.  Back then, AIDS threatened to wipe out a whole generation, leaving behind 14 million orphans and vulnerable children.  Today, we’ve slashed new infections among children in half.

So it is fair to say that we have achieved much of this because President Obama, when he came into office, was determined to set a higher standard.  And as you’ve heard directly from the President, PEPFAR is now supporting lifesaving anti-retroviral drug treatment for 7.7 million men, women, and children.  We’re providing HIV testing and counseling to more than 14 million pregnant women.  We’ve supported more than 6.5 million voluntary medical male circumcisions.  We’re training more than 140,000 new health care workers to deliver HIV and other health-related services in AIDS-affected countries, and we are mobilizing resources strategically to support UNAIDS’s 90-90-90 global targets.

So it is clear that we are at a real turning point, but emphasis today – battle not yet won.  There are major challenges ahead and they will require major commitments if we’re going to control the HIV/AIDS pandemic and achieve this AIDS-free generation that is our dream.

So first, we need to continue to make creative and strategic investments that are based on the latest science.  Only by sharing and using data efficiently are we going to be able to improve interventions and hold ourselves accountable.  That’s why I’m pleased to announce a new partnership between PEPFAR and the Millennium Challenge Corporation to promote even greater data transparency and use as part of our Country Health Partnerships.  We’re going to work with countries to create local data hubs, and these hubs are going to include key data to help countries control the disease – health, poverty, gender, you name it – and we will work with countries to set clear benchmarks and improve strategic planning, budget transparency, and decision making for better programming and sustainable results.

Second, we need to focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS on children, young women, and vulnerable populations.  And Susan was mentioning this incredible statistic about young women.  And that is why the United States announcement of a new partnership this summer between PEPFAR and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation called Accelerating Children’s HIV/AIDS Treatment, or ACT, is so important.

Today, I am pleased to share the names of the ACT participating countries, and it’s a reflection of the hard work that everybody has done: Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  These countries will lead the way in an effort to double the total number of children on lifesaving anti-retroviral therapy over the next two years.

We are also announcing a new global pediatric anti-retroviral commitment to action with our partners to accelerate the development of new anti-retroviral drugs for the children who need them most.  And this is a vital transformation.

Finally, we need to build sustainable health systems.  I don’t think that’s come home to us more than in the past months with respect to Ebola.  We all know that a central pillar of an effective health system is capable and experienced health care workforce.  Over the past 11 years, PEPFAR investments have strengthened health systems in developing countries, but we need to build on these results and we still have a long way to go.

And so today I am announcing PEPFAR’s new human resources for health strategy.  What we’re talking about here is a multi-million dollar effort that will strengthen the capacity of healthcare workers to deliver lifesaving HIV services.  This strategy will mark the next phase of the medical and nursing education partnership with Health and Human Services, and it will build on the global health service partnership with Peace Corps and Seed Global Health.  Our investment will improve clinical education, expand training for physicians and nurses, and build healthcare capacity.  It will also pay dividends for our engagement with some of the world’s most fragile states that are already grappling with Ebola and other health threats.  And if everybody steps up – bless you – we can do even more to meet these challenges.

Now every one of us who’ve traveled overseas in Africa knows what it’s like to walk into a hospital and see the operating room and see the facilities and the unbelievably complicated, difficult circumstances under which doctors and nurses are trying to operate and work.  I was stunned when I most recently was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Angola, and Ethiopia, and saw these facilities.  And I want to emphasize that the United States commitment to combatting HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR and our longstanding support of the Global Fund is as undiminished as our work is unfinished.

Our commitment has only been strengthened by the progress that we’ve made and the lives that we have saved.  That is a story worth telling and is also a story that compels all of us to continue this work.  On my last trip to Ethiopia, I visited the Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, and I heard their story of the – from these remarkable people who were working in the AIDS component, the AIDS clinic in the hospital, and they told me about a woman named Abeba.

Abeba is the mother of two daughters.  She’s also HIV-positive.  And soon after her diagnosis, she found herself alone.  I mean literally alone – alone in the street wandering in the pouring rain.  She was trying to find the local health center, and she was literally too weak and too sick to be able to finish her journey.  She collapsed in the street.  And when a group of community workers spotted her, they didn’t drive by or look away.  They stopped and they picked her up and they brought her to this health center, and they found housing for her and they helped raise money to put a roof over her head and to nurse her back to health.

Abeba is not just a survivor, my friends.  She is working now to become a volunteer herself and a mentor to young women across Ethiopia.  And her story, I believe, underscores that all of our fates are inextricably linked together in this fight.  It’s not an inappropriate reminder to turn to the scriptures to remember that this responsibility is clearly declared for us:  “For I was hungry and you gave me food.  I was thirsty and you gave me drink.  I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”

On that day in the rain, strangers welcomed Abeba and it made all the difference.  And now Abeba is determined to welcome others in return.  That is the kind of courage and compassion and caring that has brought all of us this far in this fight – a long distance from where we were back in the beginning of the 1990s.  And that is what is most inspiring, and it needs to be inspiring here today on World AIDS Day.

We’re not done yet.  That’s the message that comes out of here from the President and from everyone in this Administration.  With the commitment of every person in this room, we can achieve an AIDS-free generation, and we can silence the armies of pessimism and cynicism and the indifference who said it could never be done.  We can and we will defeat this horrific disease, and I’ll tell you, that is a charge worth fighting to keep.  Thank you.  (Applause.)