FAUCI DIARY ARCHIVE — Tuesday, October 22, 2002
https://faucisdiary.com/diary/2002-10-22

Text below is verbatim from the released PDFs, with the original line breaks.
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DIARY ENTRY — Tuesday, October 22, 2002
Source: Diary Prequel, p. 59 of 2026.07.27_Diary-Prequel-.pdf
Words: 232
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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.