Tuesday, November 13, 2001

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 table was CIA Director George Tenet and Sen. Ted Stevens. Dinner in honor of Nelson Mandela. The Princess specifically mentioned me as a very honored guest when she introduced the program. Nov. 13- Dec.1, 2001 – At first no connection with spores in mail However, careful detective work has indicated that this might be a tertiary mail contamination that gave inhalational anthrax, which is not supposed to happen. Letter that passed through Trenton with the Leahy letter got contaminated and went to a post office in CT. may have gotten a letter that was next to the secondary contaminated letter. Check news stories for details. I appeared in virtually every newspaper and TV with statements. Washingtonian Magazine choses me as one of Washington’s “Best and Brightest” – Dec, 2001 issue. Secretary Thompson told me that over the past week and ½ he has spoken to Pres. Bush about appointing me Director, NIH. Apparently, there is some resistance by Sen. Brownback who is a born-again Christian and right winger. He is pushing Bob Redfield and other strict conservatives. Apparently, he believes that I am too liberal because of my association with gays in the AIDS work and because of my statements about the scientific need for embryonic stem cell research. Thompson re-iterates my conditions for taking the job. Science advisor Jack Marburger is against my doing dual job. On Nov. 27 and 29 I appeared before 2 Senate committees. On Nov. 29, I testified that we needed $200 Million (professional judgment) more than the PB. Jeff Koplan (CDC Director) testified with me that CDC needed an additional $2 Billion for bioterrorism research. We both made big NY Times and Washington Post coverage. My picture in NY Times on Nov. 30. Weekend of Dec. 1 & 2 – Thompson asked me to prepare talking points for him in his visit to the Pres. To argue against reneging on the promise to give NIH $4 Billion in FY2003 to complete the doubling trajectory.