2001

meet with Anne Phelps at White House to discuss global AIDS and other issues.

Extensive briefing of Secr. Thompson’s staff (Halaska, Steiger, Ann Agnew) regarding International AIDS. Secretary Thompson dropped by and spent most of the hour. After the meeting he called me into his office to speak…

I was asked to prepare talking points on AIDS for Secretary. Thompson for his upcoming plane trip with Pres, Bush to (?). I did so. Thompson’s staff was so impressed with the talking points that they mentioned that…

Several hour meeting in the Situation Room of the White House chaired by Gary Edson (Condoleeza Rice’s Deputy) of NSC. Meeting attended by….. Bill Steiger charged with developing paper. April 8 – 10, 2001 – I exchanged…

Attached below is the document and some comments. ---------------------- Forwarded by Millicent H. Schwenk/NSC/EOP on 04/11/2001 11:16 AM --------------------------- Gary R. Edson 04/10/2001 09:00:45 PM Record Type…

Last day of meeting and my day of departure. Discussions continued and we all realized how difficult it would be to accomplish this lofty goal of providing antiretroviral therapy for Africans. There was good news during…

Spent 30 minutes on the phone with Secretary Tommy Thompson briefing him on my trip to Uganda. Thompson is getting ready to brief the Cabinet and convince them that the USA should take a leadership role in the AIDS in…

Important conference call with DHHS. On call was Art Lawrence (Acting ASH), Eric Goosby, Helene Gayle, ASH-Designate Claude Allen, Jeff Copeland, Terrell Halaska, Bill Steiger. We (Me, Jeff Copeland, Terrell Halaska…

Had meeting at NIH (Building 31, 7A-24 Conference room called by Richard Falkenrath of the National Security Council who is Ambassador to the Biological Weapons Convention. Present at the meeting were: John La Montagne…

After much deliberation and soul searching, President Bush decided and announced that Federal funding would be allowed for research on embryo-derived stem cells. However, funding would be restricted to work on embryonic…

Secretary Tommy Thompson came to NIH to hold a press conference to discuss the embryonic stem cell decision. He requested that I be with him on stage along with Claude Lenfant, Lana Skirboll, Ruth Kirschstein, and…

CNN in association with Time Magazine ran a special program on “America’s Best in Science and Medicine”. I was featured in an 11 minute segment along with 4 other scientists. This was in association with Time Magazine…

Bob Wood (Chief of Staff for HHS Secretary Thompson) phoned and said that Secr. Thompson and President Bush have been discussing my turning down of the NIH Director’s job and they want me to reconsider and to name my…

Terrell Halaska (Deputy Chief of Staff to Secr. Thompson) called with almost identical pleas as that of Bob Wood (see above). She mentioned that I am frequently mentioned at the White House and that the President wanted…

As I had promised, I called back Bob Wood and told him exactly what I had told Terrell Halaska. Bob also was very understanding.

Secr. Thompson spends entire day at NIH as part of his week at NIH. I presented to him on Global Health and Vaccine Development at NIH. Also, Gary Nabel and I gave him a tour of the NIAID Vaccine Research Center.

Attended a meeting at the White House of the Policy Coordinating Committee of the Biological Weapons Conference group. Chaired by Robert Joseph (Special asst. to the President) and Richard Falkenrath (Deputy to…

Secr.Thompson on a visit to NIH again offered me the position as NIH Director and said that the President wanted me and that I could indeed be NIH Director, NIAID Director, and keep my Lab. I told him that I wanted to…

Day of infamy. I was in New York City at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. Below is a note that I sent to Andy Saxon (in response to his concern for the safety of me and my family) after returning to…

While I was at DHHS for the smallpox meetings, Secretary Thompson called me in his office and said that although he had said that he would not ask me again to be NIH Director unless I brought it up, he said that he had…

Yet another visit to the White House, this time to review the final document on Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) Alternative Concepts. We agreed on the document to be sent forward to Condoleezza White and Colin…

Met at St Regis Hotel in Washington, D.C. with Secretary Thompson; Secretary of State for Health, UK Mr. Alan Milburn; Minister of Health of Canada, Mr. Allan Rock; Secretary of Health of Mexico, Julio Frenk to discuss…

Major problem in that DC Postal workers are enraged that they were not given CIPRO. They feel that there was not enough care in surveying their Brentwood mail facility. See news accounts around this time. I directly and…

Called to emergency meeting at DHHS. Thompson in a very concerned state of mind; asked for my help and counsel. We now have reliable intelligence that the USA will be hit with a major bioterrorism attack within the next…

NYC “outlier” women dies of inhalation anthrax. Still no connection with postal cases. Could this be an outlier of the existing paradigm or the sentinel case of an entirely new paradigm? Did major media today with The…

Had extraordinary briefing of Democratic Senate Caucus on bioterrorism. Present among others were Sens. Lieberman, Daschle, Boxer, Mikulski, Cleland, Hollings, Wellstone, Jeffords, Biden, Wydan, Levin, etc. In all there…

Important Senate Hearing of the Labor, HHS Subcommittee chaired by Tom Harkin. Also present were Sens. Spector, Byrd, and Stevens. Hearing on smallpox. I was able to communicate to Specter that NIAID was not allowed to…

There was a spoof on me and Attorney General Aschroft on “Saturday Night Live”. No new cases of anthrax. Kathy Nguyen case in NYC still a mystery.

I appear on “Face the Nation” with Sen. Ted Kennedy and others; also on CSPAN’s Washington Journal and CNN Special. No new issues. Nov. 5-12, 2001 – relatively quiet re: bioterrorism. No new cases.

Went to an extraordinary dinner at the home of the Saudi Ambassador to the USA (Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz) Sat at table with his wife Princess Haifa Al Faisal (Late King Faisal’s daughter). Also at the…

Probably one of the most significant days for NIH and me regarding the budget of the institution. Word was that the “pass back” for NIH would be $0.5 billion, which would be devastating for NIH (no new initiatives and…

Negotiated with Ed Sontag (Asst Secr. For Management at DHHS) regarding restructuring and consolidation of the NIH from an administrative standpoint, i.e. Budget, HR, Legislation, Procurement, Public Affairs, Grants…

Thompson tried to call me at home last night (Friday), but I was out. He called me on Saturday in my office and told me that President Bush has agreed to appoint me NIH Director. Thompson wants me to speak with Sen…

Met with Sen. Brownback and his aide Rob Wassinger. Brownback was concerned about statements that I made 13 years ago! Concerning the then new SCID mouse that could be reconstituted with fetal tissue to regenerate a…

Spoke with Rick Klausner about his perception about NIH Director. Rick feels that the WH is not leveling with Thompson since he has heard that they think that doing both jobs (NIH and NIAID) is a “non-starter” and they…

Receive a letter from Sen Brownback dated Dec. 19, 2001 in which he states that he is “deeply concerned by your inability to define the entity created after the successful procedure referred to by some as human somatic…