President Barack Obama has picked Ron Klain, an inside-the-Beltway veteran and well regarded manager, to oversee and fix the wobbly federal government response to West Africa's deadly Ebola outbreak.
'The president has asked Ron Klain to take on the task of coordinating his administration's whole of government Ebola response,' the White House said. His formal title will be 'Ebola Response Coordinator.'
Klain, a former chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, 'will report directly' to Obama Homeland Security Adviser Lisa Monaco and National Security Adviser Susan Rice.
His job will be to ensure 'that efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don't distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa,' the White House said.
Klain, a veteran of political knife-fights like the 2000 presidential election recount in Florida, is generally well regarded in Congress by Democrats and Republicans for his managerial skills. As Biden's chief of staff, Klain oversaw the implementation of the 2009 economic stimulus package.
Klain, a lawyer by training, currently runs Case Holdings, which oversees the business and charity interests of former AOL chairman Steve Case. He is also general counsel at Washington DC-based venture capital firm Revolution LLC.
