Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Had a terrific visit and briefing of Vice President Cheney in the West Wing of the WH. Present were the VP, “Scooter” Libby, Carol Kuntz, Noreen Hynes, Seth Carus, (Gen.) Phil Russell, and Stewart Simonson. I went over our NIAID Research Agenda and Strategic plan for biodefense. As I did in my briefing of Carol Kuntz (see above), I stressed that we can and will do the job. I stressed that we needed help in getting greater regulatory flexibility, having the power to sole source contracts, and we need to provide major incentives for industry. We must work more closely with industry the same way that the automobile industry made our planes and tanks during World War II. It was a very easy and enjoyable interaction with the VP. Of note, when we discussed briefly the policy for smallpox vaccination, it was clear that Libby is the driving force for mass vaccination sooner rather than later. The VP seemed rather measured on the subject. On the way out of the WH, I ran into Gary Edson in Josh Bolten’s office (Josh’s assistant had seen me walking by and asked me to come in to say hello to Josh). Josh and Gary were actually working on the plan that Mark and I had just sent to them. They like it very much and I think that something is going to happen with it.