Tuesday, November 25, 2003

Briefed the Vice President today with Scooter Libby, Stewart Simonson, Carol Kuntz and Jorge Tavel in attendence. I spoke about Nuclear/Radiological countermeasures and our need for a strategic plan and the need for someone (us – DHHS/NIH) to take the lead in this since the effort is fragmented and DoD has been neglecting this area since the end of the Cold War. I also gave him a progress report on our microbial biodefense program. He loved both presentations and related to Carol, (who told me) that the briefing was “very impressive, very impressive, in fact great!” I am still having trouble with Zerhouni who is infuriated that the VP’s people are “excluding him” from these briefings. In fact, they merely maintain that the VP does not like crowds and he does not like the chain of command to be present on briefings to him. Zerhouni cannot accept that. I am trying to explain this to Zerhouni, but he is just plain angry.