are going to demand being checd for ebola. give us some guidelines on what is elevating the temperature and when should parents be concerned ? >> parents should not be concerned about evil unless you are living in west africa or the child has had exposure to ebola. the only people who have had exposure to ebola in the u.s. are people who are providing care to ebola patients or the contacts of the three ebola patients. for our screening criteria we are always going to try to have additional margins of safety. we look at that and we would rather check more people and assess -- we are going to always have that extra margin of safety. >> thank you, and i yield back. castor forize ms. five minutes. >> thank you for tackling this

important public health issue of want toa virus, and i thank the centers for disease control and the nih and medical professionals across the country, especially those at emory university health care, with been proactive in containing and treating the virus. i agree with president obama and all of you, we have to be as aggressive as possible in preventing any transition of the disease within the united states , and boosting containment in west africa. but i also think we need to pause here. this is a wake-up call for nihica that we cannot allow funding to stagnate any longer. earlier this year in the budget committee i offered an amendment to the republican budget to restore the cuts to nih. the budget cuts that have been inflicted over the past two years, and repair the damage of the government shutdown last year. unfortunately it has not passed, on a partyline vote.

wewill only save lives if can robustly find medical research in america and keep america is the world leader. i would like to turn to some of the research that is going on now, because it is going to be research that will be our .onger-term response to ebola it will be the vaccines to prevent the disease and the drugs to treat it. anddevelopment of vaccines treatment for people is different from the development of many other drugs. there's not a large private market for ebola drugs. the development requires leadership in our country, and testified, hasci been working on a vaccine for many years, and he reported today and has moved into some phase one clinical trials. you explain why government support is so important for developing ebola

vaccines and treatment? >> well, when you have a product that you want developed, there is not a great incentive on the part of the pharmaceutical companies because of a disease whose characteristics is not a large market. we have the experience when you are dealing with emerging and reemerging disease, the influenza or a rare disease that could be used deliberately in bioterror or a rare disease like ebola that if you look fire to the current epidemic -- prior to the current epidemic there were 24 outbreaks since 1976 and the total number of people in those outbreaks were is less than 3000, about 2500. we were struggling for years to get pharmaceutical partners -- ourselves from doing the fundamental basic clinical research. and then we did get pharmaceutical partners, like we have now with glaxosmithkline, which is the reason we are moving along.

that is one of the reasons that i showed that slide -- i showed that slide where the nih and the research is at this end and you have to push the envelope further to the product and de-r isk it on the part of the companies. companies don't like to take risks when -- >> can you quantify a timeline for the ebola vaccine to be on the market? is it feasible for any vaccine to be approved in time for the current operation? >> your question has a couple of assumptions. the first is that the vaccine is safe and it works. the second is going to be how long is this outbreak going to last that the level? if you look at the kinetics and the dynamics of the epidemic, it looks very serious. our response -- when i say "our, " i mean the global response has not kept up with the rate of expansion. if that keeps up, as the cdc has projected, we may need a vaccine

to actually be an important part of the control of the epidemic itself, as opposed to what the original purpose of it was, to protect health care workers alone. now if you have a raging epidemic -- to be quite honest with you, ms. castor, i cannot predict when that will be. if you have a lot of rate of infection, the vaccine trial gives you a much shorter time to get the answer. if it slows down, it is a much longer time. if you have a lot more people in your vaccine trial, it takes less time. if we have trouble adjusting lee, which we might, of getting people into the trial, it might take longer. i would like to give you a firm answer but we can't right now. vaccines,tion to the part of controlling the virus is early diagnosis and treatment. i know there are some diagnostic tests that are being developed. can you speak to the prospect of improved diagnostics that can assist in this outbreak?

>> there are couple of us -- when i say "us," i mean agencies working on diagnostics. dr. frieden's group at the cdc has played a major role in leadership. we have several grants and contracts out to get earlier and more sensitive diagnostics. >> thank you. recognize mr. gardner for five minutes. todr. frieden, i want clarify something you said earlier. i believe you mentioned there are approximately 100 to 150 people a day coming in to the united states from the affected areas? >> that is my understanding, yes. >> mr. reiner, you mentioned we are screening 94% of the people? spansion toay, with the four additional locations, that covers about 94%. >> 94% being covered, that means somewhere between 2000 between 2000-3000 people a year coming into this country without being

screened from affected areas. a they would undergo different form of screening. we are still going to ask them questions about their itinerary. we are alert to any overt signs of illness and chlorinated with cdc and public health of they are sick. we are also going to give them a fact sheet about ebola, about the symptoms, and most important link, who to contact. >> will you be checking temperatures? >> we will not be taking temperatures. >> so there are 2000-3000 people a year entering the country without taking temperatures, contextfilling out a she. >> they're going to arrive at hundreds of different airports throughout the united states. >> i want to talk about travel restrictions. non-us military commercial flights are currently going into the affected countries? >> i don't have the exact

numbers. >> does anyone on the panel know? from the united states or from anywhere? >> from the united states into those areas. >> there are no direct flights into the united states. >> or into west africa? >> there are direct flights into west africa? >> how many? does anybody on the panel know how many? back to the united states? >> there are no direct flights coming back to the united states from those affected areas. what about from europe? >> there are hundreds of flights coming from europe. >> and people from west africa throughhrough their -- there. and there is 94% screening.

>> we would have to get back to numbers, butof huge quantities of supplies are needed. >> if you could get back to me with that number, i would appreciate it. are you aware if nigeria has a travel ban on countries affected by the outbreak? >> they do not. the areas brought up regularly to me when i go home, what should i tell my local hospitals and local doctors that they need to do to address ebola? >> make sure if anyone comes in with fever or other symptoms of , they need to ask where they have been for the last 21 days and whether they in west africa. >> and the training the small local district hospital would receive, is that the same kind

of metropolitan hospital would receive? >> there are override the of forms of training. hospitals are usually supported by the state. >> what do we need to do to make sure people understand that there could be similar conditions, similar circumstances, so we don't have a situation where people are panicked. >> the key issue as you point out is that we are going into flu season. by all means, get a flu shot. for health-care workers, anytime someone comes in with fever or other infection, take a travel history. that's really important. >> you mentioned that we can't have a travel ban because you are afraid of the impact it would have, but you don't know how many personnel or flights are currently in use. >> my point earlier on was that

of passengers are not allowed to come directly, there is a high likelihood they will find another way to get here, and we will not be able to track them as we currently can. talking supplies and personnel. how many? how much equipment? not able to track people coming directly, we will lose the ability to monitor them for fever, to collect information and share it with local authorities, and to isolate them if they are ill. you.ank we now recognize mr. wilshire for five minutes. >> first, i want to understand this. u.s. andn came to the infected to health-care workers in dallas, correct? >> at this point, none of the 48 contacts he had prior to

haveoping symptoms developed anything and they of all past the point -- >> we have had two incidents in the united states, but this is such a highly contagious disease, we are on full alert, correct? >> it is as severe disease. it is not nearly as contagious as other diseases, but any infection in a health-care worker is unacceptable. >> and there is an enormous amount of public concern about this, so we appreciate the effort you're making. there has been some concern about what happened in dallas, the efforts made. and now you're telling us that there has been information provided to all of the hospitals in the country about what protocols to follow, correct? >> that's right. >> is it feasible that all of our hospitals are going to be in

a position to provide state-of-the-art treatment or as a practical matter does it make sense for hospitals to contact you when they have a potential infection, for you to come, and then for there to be centers where an individual can be treated. >> every hospital needs to be able to think it may be ebola, call us -- we have had hundreds of calls, and then we will determine what treatment is best for that patient. -- this isalso heard absolutely a public health infrastructure issue where he gets out of hand, correct? >> public health measures can control ebola. >> they have effective measures in nigeria where they have been able to contain it, but they have no public health infrastructure in the three countries where the epidemic is now gaining headway, correct? >> right. >> and in the u.s., we are fortunate to have a pretty good

infrastructure, but we do have to have an answer, i think, to this question that is being asked about travel. a concern people have because it is seen as a "easy answer. co i want to understand what the answer." "easy it seems like a debate within the medical community, but it may be a psychological answer but not necessarily in effect of medical answer. all of us have been asking you to give your explanation as to why, from a medical standpoint, you have concluded that a total travel ban is inappropriate and not effective. >> first off, many of the people coming to the u.s. from west africa are american citizens, american passport holders, so that is one issue to be aware of.

way, i don't have much time, but if we're going to encourage people to go and do important work, including military personnel, we have to take them back and make sure we can treat them if they do get the illness, correct? >> people travel and people will be coming in for it >> you say there is basically a trade-off. if there is a full ban, there are ways around it and then you lose the benefit of being able to track folks who may be infected and that could lead to a greater incidence of outbreak. it is a trade-off. is that essentially what is going on? >> we are open to any possibility that will increase the safety of americans. >> are there midpoints that makes sense to you in coordination with your colleagues, particularly mr. wagner? >> we would look at any proposal that would improve the safety of americans. >> this is not about funding so

i am not going to ask you because i think we know what your answers would be, but i just want to share the concern expressed -- mr. chairman, we may want to have a hearing at some point about funding requirements to make sure the emperor's structure this country needs to be in place before thishing -- infrastructure country needs to be in place before something happens is robust that we have people who are strong and trained and ready to do the job. that is not today's hearing, but i think it is a question we should address the cause with 20% across-the-board funding and nih, i find not to be a reckless decision. 12% at cbc i think is reckless. we have to revisit our priorities and making sure we have the emperor structure in public health to protect the -- infrastructure and public health to protect the american people. >> we do have a hearing scheduled on that.

>> i now recognize mr. griffith. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i believe we should have reasonable travel restrictions. i am submitting a letter for the a prominentcites medical and travel security services country with more than 700 locations in 76 countries that reports that africans have imposed air, land and travel bans by persons from countries where ebola is present. south african development community members only allow

highly restricted entrance from ebola affected regions with monitoring for 21 days and public gatherings discouraged. i find that interesting because some of those countries have had a previous ebola outbreaks themselves. >> i will take your word for it. >> i will tell you that this is a concern to a lot of our constituents and mine as well. recently, a father from virginia prayers for his daughter because she lives in the complex with the first nurse and was very concerned. while i think i know the answer, i would like to get your answer. he asks, if i get to 21 days and is nothter is in fact --

infected, can i exhale and breathe a sigh of relief? >> he can do that now. the first nurse only exposed one contact in that was in the very early stages of her illness. at most, one person from the community was exposed. >> i appreciate that. he said there were some concern coming out of dallas that the patient's dog may be infected. by the virus be transmitted dogs? i did some homework on mess because i thought it was an interesting question and i found a publication from march of 2005 the did a study on dogs in and dogs in france as a control group. they showed that while dogs have antibodies for ebola, they are asymptomatic, but the study went further to say that there are a lot of questions about how ebola

is transmitted. there is a question as to whether or not or how the ebola outbreak occurred. it wasn't in normal ways, human human, and the report indicates the dogs might be -- might be -- i don't want to scare folks -- might be suspect. isn't it true that we don't know a whole lot about the outbreak of ebola and when we are trying to a sure american people -- just like previously we didn't think it would come to this country and then if it did get to this country we wouldn't have any problems controlling it and now we have all kinds of people being monitored. aren't there a lot of questions about how ebola is spread? >> although we are still learning a lot, we have a lot of information about ebola.

we have a good sense of how it .s controlled we have looked at exposure to animals. we don't know of any documented ,ransmission from dogs to human but we will be looking to help assess that situation. seenthough we have not transmission, we have a lack of evidence as opposed to evidence that it cannot be transmitted. we have no restrictions on travel of human beings. how about the dogs? i called customs. they said experts are there. called the usda. they said that would be cdc. i understand all of your reasons -- while i don't agree with them completely, i understand about

humanitarianism in all of that, but don't you think we should restrict travel on dogs? legs we will follow-up on what is recommended -- >> we will follow-up on what is recommended. >> i like to start by mentioning "will americaled meet the ebola challenge?" i would like to submit that for the record. this has been a very enlightening hearing. i would like to acknowledge that the kentucky international guard, which is taste in my district, is in senegal providing help for the 101st. so into the ink them for their effort. displaying my ignorance, we know that you

cannot do text ebola until it -- until itagious becomes symptomatic, at which point it is contagious. is there any way to detect going on? >> at this point, we don't have a test that would identify it before someone has symptoms. the test only turns positive when they are sick. the test is for the virus itself. that is another reason we are confident that it doesn't spread -- we can't even find tiny amounts of it in people's bodies until they get sick. is there any research been done on a possible test for this? >> there's a lot of research being done to understand, diagnose, prevent and treat better. sensitive to have a media treat situations like this.

certainly, the media can be a very important part of providing public information about a potential threat to public goety, but they can also .verboard i see comments in the media the threat oft ebola and the spread of ebola. while it has spread to two health-care workers, i know the public may perceive that differently. like, for instance, in the washington post today, a picture of a woman at the dulles airport who looks mummified because of her concern about contracting ebola. one survey showed 98% of the american people are aware of the ebola situation and not even 50% know there is an election coming

up in three weeks. media has certainly alerted people that something is going on. my question to you is has the helpful orage than harmful in having the public have an appropriate level of concern as to what the situation is. workersimes health care become infected and ill it is unacceptable and our thoughts with those health-care workers and hoping for their recovery. it is certainly understandable that there is media interest. it is new to the united states. it is a scary disease. there was a movie made about it. it is important that we pay attention and the doctors, hospitals, community clinics in health care practices

stop it at the source to make is completely safe. i thinkthe coverage, many would agree, may exaggerate the potential risks or confuse people about the risks. we know about ebola. cdc has an entire group of professionals who spend their entire careers working on ebola. they stop outbreaks all the time. outbreaktopped every except the current one in africa. there is zero doubt in my mind that are in a mutation there in thet be an outbreak u.s.. it warrants attention but it's important to put it in perspective. >> i agree. additionaly

authority that cdc would find helpful in conducting your responsibilities. specific authority that would make it easier to do your job? >> we are looking at a variety of things, procurement, for example, to see if there are changes that might allow us to respond more quickly and effectively. >> thank you. i yield back. fore recognize mr. johnson five minutes. >> thank you for being here. thank all of you on the panel for being here today. politics orabout international diplomacy. this is about public health and protecting the safety of the american people, particularly

our health care workers who are some of the high risk folks to be exposed. as of my main concerns though we don't know what we don't know. throughout testimony and questioning today, i have heard you say multiple times i don't know the details of this, i don't know the details of that. i think what the american people , is some assurance that somebody does know the details. salome us your question. do we know yet how the two -- so let me ask you a question. do we know yet how the two health-care workers contracted the virus? was it a breakdown in the protocol? was it a breakdown in the training of the protocol? do we know of the protocol

works? >> the investigation is ongoing. we have identified possible causes. >> so we don't know. we don't know. i get that. we don't know. you know, the people in ohio are , especially now that we know that one of those health-care workers traveled through ohio, even spend some time in akron with family members. kasich's governor immediate actions to try to address the situation. in my experience as a military war planner, 26 and a half years in the military, and i know we have the military engaged in this process overseas, we don't wait until the bullets start flying to figure out whether our war plan is going to work.

when did the cdc find out their was an outbreak of ebola in west africa? >> late march. >> one of the things we do in the military is conduct operational readiness inspections. scenarios inworld controlled environments, no notice, so that those who are going to be responsible for whatting a war plan know to do when the first shot is fired. no panic, no second-guessing, they know what to do. ebolae plan to address an outbreak ever been tested by the cdc in a real-world environment? >> not only has the plan been tested, that outbreak control has been done multiple times in

west africa. >> i am talking about in america. >> in america also. >> do you know of any hospitals in southeastern ohio that have participated in any kind of real world scenario of an ebola outbreak? >> i can speak to that -- cannot speak to that specific example. >> let me go further. daymentioned that 150 per roughly are coming in from west africa. let me give you a scenario. in tosay a person comes the country from west africa, and let's say that everything in the screening process works right. they may be on day 14 of having in westosed to ebola

africa. symptoms andwith go through the screening process and then go to wherever they may go. day 17 or 18 they start getting ill and start seeing a spike in their temperature. if they want into any emergency room in appalachia, ohio, and start throwing up and having planoms, does your identify that can tell that hospital emergency room what to do and then scenario? don't know that person came from liberia or any other place. >> we have detailed checklists and down rhythms we have provided widely two health-care workers throughout -- algorithms we have provided widely two health-care workers throughout

the country to determine if there is an outbreak of ebola and if they do, to call for help, and we will be there. mr. madison is next for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. a number of questions. i will try to move through them quickly. dr. friedman, it strikes me that controlling the outbreak in west africa is really one of the real of to keeping americans safe. the reports indicate we may be losing ground in liberia. what would enhance the international community's ability to gain some ground in africa in terms of actions and resources? that itwe're finding is is moving quickly and there is a real risk it will spread to other parts of africa.

therefore, the key ingredient to progress there is speed. the quicker we surge in a response, the quicker we blunt the number of cases and the risk ,o other parts of the world including the u.s., decreases. angress has provided agreement to use money from the department of defense. received $30e million for the first 11 weeks of this fiscal year, which we appreciate. has an unprecedented number of people in the field right now in west africa and texas. how many people do you have doing airport screenings? >> i would have to get back to you with the exact numbers. we are overseeing screenings to make sure they are done

correctly and to screen individuals here -- >> make sure you get that ifber, and also find out those resources are best used there or elsewhere with your limited number of people. is there progress in developing test to determine if somebody has ebola? >> a more rapid test would be helpful. we are currently testing one in africa that is simpler and quicker and would be more aspful even if it is not thorough. to me that when it comes to infection control and prevention and hospital standards, i think he very wisely from hospital to hospital in this country. what regulatory or legislative actions could strengthen these systems?

how can we reduce this variability among hospitals in ?ur country >> infection control in our country generally is a challenge cdc worksing that hard to improve. hospitals are regulated by the states in which they operate and the issue of what could be done isimprove infection control complex. cdc has a large program of ofpital prevention infection. we share new efforts in new ways to do things better. that center of excellence model is an important one. suggesting that while you can provide guidance, implementation is more of a state function than a federal function. do you think we should be looking at that issue? we have a federalist system.

the cdc provides information and input that roughly 5000 hospitals in the country were not regulatory. >> one other line of question. there is no good news about ebola, but at least it is not , it does not transmit as an airborne identity. it is clearly that we do not want to underestimate the trent -- the ability to transmit it. the focus is on ebola and rightly so, but there are other airborne transmittal pathogens that ought to be of great concern. birds being one of them. is this experience we have had with ebola, how do we learn from it to make sure we are prepared for other, human to human that mayible pandemics

have a higher rate of transmission van ebola? >> two major lessons. prevented at the source. either go to find it, stop it, and prevented, it would be over already. country, tor continue preparedness and public to find and stop public health threats. >> recognized for five minutes. >> thank you. today, we have referred to , referred to nurse one and nurse two. these are two young women who dedicated their lives to helping other people, sick people. nurse oneo them as and nurse to does not sit well with me. it is reminiscent of dr. seuss, thing one and thing two.

these are not things. i would like to think -- first nurse and the second nurse -- these are young women with families. one particular has a fiancé. i think it would serve us well are humanr these beings, young women, who have dedicated their lives to help people. i would like to open with that. dr., he said in your testimony earlier, only by direct contact can you contract ebola. you contest that statement? and it is not airborne? you agree? >> it spread person-to-person not by the airborne.

>> if you need personal contact fluids, why is it scrubbed four times? aren't they wasting money? contact,n have bodily why -- >> it is a scary disease. >> so it is just for public perception. they do not need to be doing that. >> we have detailed guidelines. you need to be sick and generally, the first symptom of illness is a fever. >> do you need a fever to be contagious? >> later in the disease when people are deathly ill, they may not have a fever but they would be able to walk at that point. >> you need to show symptoms within 21 days of exposure. are contagiousu

at that point? time, anywhereon from 0-21 days. question early within the first 21 days or so. >> you said there were 121 people from west africa to the united states. you are opposed to -- constituents are in favor of you orng -- i predict the president will put on traveling restrictions. and ik they are coming think sooner rather than later. 150 a day and you rationalize, we do not need to worry about that because they can get cross orders and go by land. number might be reduced to five or 10 a day? >> i cannot comment on what numbers. >> if someone had to make an effort rather than going on

airport and jumping out a plan, if they really had to, don't you think the number would dramatically dropped? >> i know people come back. right now, we are able to screen them and collect information. >> what if they do not come back question mark a lot of people miss country, they do not come back. what happens then? if you have five coming in today, i were my constituents rather have five a day coming in. this thing was checking for temp -- temperatures, like it will help, is like scrubbing what does not need to be scrubbed. i would like to commend reading this copy, ebola is coming to america. the u.s. had a chance to stop the virus in its tracks but it missed. before mr.ame out duncan came to this country and diagnosed with

ebola. there is good reading there. i also recommend, if you want to google a hospital from hell, hospital fromla, hell, if you get a chance to read that, i think everyone would be in favor of the travel restrictions and today, the health administration just today said customs and border control immigration and nations are at risk of coming into contact with ebola. are we prepared for that? protected?ents this came out today. >> we china my how to wear the protective gear and what circumstances. travel with a whole host of potential diseases, we are aware and we trained to recognize signs of over illness. we have protocols without professionals to get those care and into that

protect our employees. >> they phone the same category as nurses. save us ande to protective of the country. god bless you. i yield back. >> the german is retired. >> thank you so much. i have a number of questions. i would like to start in regard exposed, myurses understanding is the first nurse, was exposed in the emergency room. is that correct? repeat theu question? in thefirst nurse was emergency room? is that correct? >> it is not correct. she came in contact with mr. duncan when mr. duncan was up.sferred

>> that was some time up from september 28 through the 30th. is that correct? >> that is correct. sent, wasond nurse she also an icu nurse? so they were exposed after the --nt that is not correct. the nurses from the time may have first contact with mr. duncan were in personal protective equipment according to cdc guidelines. nina cared for mr. duncan. stop you right there. they are already using universal but were using more

isolation. just answer yes or no. >> yes. i is ok. this, and i will just back up, on october 2 -- excuse me, october 6, i sent a letter calling for travel restrictions. there is no question i believe they need to be put in place. after having this subcommittee hearing now, i believe even more strongly that we need them. i want to back up to a couple of questions. are there multiple strains of ebola? >> five different subspecies. this outbreak is one particular subspecies. all of these have been closely related third >> we know it has to one particular strain. the quote was, unless it

mutates, there will not be an outbreak here in the united states, is that correct? be a largell not outbreak here buying a mutation. >> lemon nurses were using how has thisar, happened? it tells me something is changing herein are we currently looking into the situation now? what we have seen is very little change in the virus. we do not think it is spreading by any different way. you have artie said a couple of times it is not airborne. you are protecting yourself and your protecting your patient and you are protecting your family. based on precautions, i am sure. we are now having this conversation and i am concerned about that. is notre confident this an airborne transmission. nurses working very hard and

working with a patient who is very ill and was having a lot of vomiting and diarrhea. a lot of infectious material. the investigation is ongoing, but we immediately implemented a series of measures. >> i will move on. faste discussion of for ebola, where are they at with that? >> a diagnostic test? there are three authorized for use. taken some proactive steps by contacting commercial manufacturers who we know have potential technology to bear here. we reached out to a handful who might be interested in working with us. >> you're in the process of working toward a fast-track process. >> yes. we expedite every such path. >> leslie, i am speaking on

behalf of my constituents in every in my cut -- in the country. i just do not believe it is acceptable, the quote you have given us, as the reason for why she -- we should not implement travel. i believe we can. dofar as our border patrol, you believe there is a way we can implement tracking of individuals, if we do not allow it >> yes. we have a way to determine that through review of passport. it is easier when they come to direct places. >> rue, thank you. thank you for indulging. i am over time here. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate your holding this hearing. i've talked to a number of

health care professionals and listening to the panel as well. i want to join with chairman upton in urging the president to immediately issue a travel ban until such time as they can firmly and scientifically prove that americans are safe from having more ebola patients coming into the united states. i know, dr., you expressed disagreement with that. have you all had any conversations within the white about a travel ban and whether or not the president has the authority? many of us have said the president does have the authority to do it today. >> from the point of view of cdc, we are willing to consider anything -- >> have you considered an have you ruled it out, or have you not considered it at all? have you had conversations with the white house about a travel ban? it is a yes or no question. conversations with

the white house about a travel than? >> we have had discussions on the issue of travel >> have you ruled it out? if you are in those conversations, maybe they had their own conversation about you, but if you were involved in conversations with the white house about a travel ban, did they rule it out and are they still considering it? --we will consider anything >> are you going to answer the question about your conversation with the white house? is the white house considering a travel ban? >> i can't speak for the white house. >> have you had conversations with them about it? -- >> wecussed discussed the issue of travel. >> i would urge you, if you do not think it travel ban is the right way to go, a lot of people disagree with you, at a minimum, you ought to look at -- you can travel in the united states from

liberia. have you all considered that were discussed it or ruled it out? authority is our to acquire the isolation of individuals. >> but you said you do not think there should be a travel ban. att about at least looking extending visas to non-us citizens? >> the cdc does not issue visas. can make a recommendation to the white house that you think would be in the best interest of the american people to have that kind of suspension issued. are you not aware of that? >> we would certainly consider anything that will reduce risk to americans. >> do you have a high level of confidence that our u.s. troops over there right now, through activity are already in those countries. up to 3000 of those trips will

be sent over from president obama. do you have a high level of confidence those trips are protected so they will not contract ebola? >> we work very closely with dod on the protocols. say there is zero risk there in those countries, but they are not participating in high risk activities. protocols inishes that case? >> they are following cdc protocols, but they follow their own. theet me ask you about protocols. i have heard reports that some people of some of the other organizations that have been there for a while, you have got a group, a showman by the name of shawn kaufman, who is involved with some of the doctors over there that got infected. they have been working for decades in some cases. he said he warned your agency that the guidelines you had on the below were relaxed and his response was "they kind of blew

me off. oh off." blew me >> do not know that occurred. >> i hope you go find out. is a real concern. i've talked to a number of medical professionals in my district. not are concerned they have had consistent protocols. there have been at least four in the last few weeks were the protocols keep changing. first nurse that was infected, you personally said the protocols have been breached. have you back away from that? you said the protocols were breached. were they breached? yes or no? >> our review of the records

suggest -- if you did not know for a fact -- do you still stand by the statement that protocols were breached? definite exposure -- >> i yield back. >> the ranking member and the chairman have a final two-minute wrapup. >> he started to say looks like was exposed in the first couple of days before the diagnosis came in. >> that is our leading hypothesis. >> thank you. have you now see in my chart from the new york times about protective gear? ofyou know which types protective gear health-care workers were wearing in the last few days? guard, folks would

have been wearing the first fiction or. >> thank you. it is your testimony, you do not really know how either one of these nurses were. is that correct? >> that is correct. >> i want to say one last thing. discussionsa lot of today about a lot of issues. i will make a statement and i will ask you to comment. it seems to me, beside from trying to stop the ebola from africa, the things we can do here, number one, better ourning to people in emergency rooms, better responders, not just send them out e-mails and bulletins. we can have more robust protective gear at the early stages someone looks like he might have a risk for ebola. number three, it might be useful

to have cdc on the ground earlier. down to the come dallas hospital until after the diagnosis. two days, people were moving in and out of mr. duncan's room and we do not know exactly what happened. can you comment on that? >> i do not agree completely on the framing. we are looking carefully at the equipment issue. we consult immediately every time. 300 --ave been more than only mr. duncan was confirmed to have ebola. we will do everything we can to support the front lines. >> i would ask for both this chart, and the flights to be included in the effort. i would also ask all of our witnesses if they would continue updatedthis committee

as changes in developments are made. i ask unanimous consent to put these statements in the record. >> i previously asked for unanimous consent but i do not think we ever agreed to it. >> it is so ordered. i now recognize for another two minutes. yourg listened to all of testimony, couple things stand out for me. i appreciate the statement of honesty. that we made mistakes. i did not hear that for many of you and that troubles me. what has happened here is your protocol depends on everyone being honest 100% of the time. i am not a medical expert. i study behavior as a psychologist. people are not honest 100% of the time. it relies on tools that take temperatures. a 121 chance they may register

something. and a person -- that is not helpful. recognize human behavior, the protocols may not be salt -- may not be followed. itt you put -- watch you put on and watch it taken off and do things. the example of how this failed was there was an assumption, you travel. granted the assumption that you use all the right protective gear, but we looked at this and you are not aware of what she wore. to this extent, these are my recommendations. i believe we need an immediate ban on commercial and nonessential travel until we have an accurate screening process to treat the disease. a mandatory court order for any american who has traveled to or return from the ebola hot zone

countries. because of an assumption and without this assumption of what they were was dawned and remove properly. number three, through training for health care hospital workers for personal equipment used in the treatment of ebola patients, and --ber four, identify those trained. inber five, identify gaps the statutory language to take more aggressive and immediate -- four but -- public health in ebola. or any other action congress needs to do to facilitate your needs. number six, accelerate on development and clinical trials investigations on drugs and diagnostic tests. number seven, acquisition of

vehicles capable of examining military personnel who may have contracted ebola in africa to return to the united states beyond the current capacity. number eight, additional contact and testing for public health agencies. number nine, to provide for congress and the resources needed to assist health interventions in africa so we can stop people of their. the members coming back today for the hearing and i especially appreciate the testimony of the panel. -- to be entered into the record. >> yes. the office of and specter general, and the photographs i demonstrated earlier today? >> so ordered. they will be demonstrated in the record. >> mr. chairman, i want to -- to acknowledge --

>> we will follow up and notify participants and when that will be. agreedhat witnesses plea to respond properly paired with that, the hearing is adjourned. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014]

>> we need to send a signature snal now. our gorder is closed. until we resolve this issue in west africa we are not going to allow folks to be coming to the united states until we can get the proper fix. thank you. >> i want to restate. so i gave a list of several recommendations. i want the white house to consider those including a travel ban on persons who are not citizens coming to the united states currently until we have some of these problems solved. two, to also make sure we have travel restrictions on those

folks once they come back here and o people who have treated ebola patients. it is clear that errors can be made, that people will not nestly be trust worthy in the comments that they make about where they have been, the exposure they may have had. what we ought to be doing is all these steps. what we're asking for may amount to ain convenes for some. the alternative is illness and death for some. we believe we should hold this higher standard at present and the white house has all the tools necessary to make these decisions. we would like to have the c.d.c. with us on this and move forward. >> [inaudible] >> the hearing clarified to the american people some aspects that a number of government agencies are looking at this. it also sent some mixed

messages saying that they believe right now they can trust folks to be honest and aware of all their exposure and they may not necessarily do that. i think that it is important that they know that congress is partners with the administration on this. we are pushing strong for this. we want to protect the american people and that's our first step. >> again, i think the need for a travel ban is clear under the c.d.c.'s reasoning today they basically said we need to make sure we have the opportunities for supplies for personnel but yet the c.d.c. does not know the number of flights, personnel that are coming in. so how can they base an entire decision when they don't know the number behind the reason they're stating the opposition. their reasons are basically the same thing as saying that we should make sure that all children with chicken povepl stay in school. we must make sure we're protecting the american people by making sure that travel from

the affected area is restricted. >> i join with chairman upton and others in calling on president obama to immediately ensure a travel ban. he has the ability to do this and in fact there is still so many unanswered questions. this is something we should do at a minimum the president ought to at least stop nonu.s. citizens from those countries from coming here. i was disappointing that the head of the c.d.c. would not discuss whether or not he had conversations with the white house about doing it and if the white house has ruled out a travel ban. i think that is something that ought to be asked. there are a lot of other questions that i think we still need to find out. if you look at some of the scomplinets from people like doctors without borders, some of the organizations that have been in the countries affected for decade, they've been critical of c.d.c.'s procedures. in fact some of them have suggested that they've been

blown off by the c.d.c. the head of the c.d.c. ought to be digging into that finding out who those employees are that haven't been taking this seriously enough and taking the advice of those people. >> [inaudible] i think first of all we've asked for the president to institute a travel ban. dr. frieden wouldn't say whether or not the white house has ruled it out. so right now we're placing this on the president's desk and to institute a travel ban. he can do that. we want to give the president that opportunity. [inaudible] >> one of the things that we've done is shown by coming here today that we're going to take this issue seriously. we're going to be here to do whatever needs to be done. so right now the ball is in the president's court. he can institute a travel ban. we've called on him to do that. again, they ought to at least aps those questions.

have they ruled it out? it's a straightforward que. >> i would like to say on behalf of moms and nurses health care workers across this country i do believe that we are working together in a collaborative way. we want to work with the white house. we want to work with the president on this issue. and if there's a better time for our president to take out his pen and his phone now is that time. let's put in place the travel restrictions. let's get to the bottom of this issue before any other american is affected. >> let me add to that and get back to your question. one of the things we have to remind americans the chances of contracting the ebola virus is very small unless you are exposed to someone else. that's why the travel bans to be in place to minimize and protect the health of americans. >> the travel ban applies to returning citizens

[inaudible] >> u.s. citizens have a right to return to this country but they could be quarantined and monitored once they return here. [inaudible] >>let look at a proposal. right now what has been admitted to us is the screening procedure is full of holes.

>> good afternoon. we are ready to go, so i'm going to get us started ere. this is an on the record briefing. nobody can see each other, so

everyone speak up a little bit and your name and who you are with, so they can get a visual. i have described the setting on the phone. he can get a mental picture hopefully. ambassador, can you hear us? >> good afternoon. opening comments, so over to liberia. >> thanks, ladies and gentlemen. i major general in here with me is the u.s. ambassador to liberia and then hemingway from usaid. i have a brief statement i would like to give before the monitor opens the floor for questions. joint forces command united assistance and u.s. africa command is supporting a comprehensive u.s. government effort led by the u.s. agency of international development here to fight the outbreak of the ebola virus in liberia.

after, established the joint force headquarters to facilitate all u.s. military forces to support usaid and other agencies in stopping the ebola outbreak. we are currently overseeing the establishment of logistics nodes, the monrovia medical unit, which is a 25 bed hospital, and up to 17 ebola treatment units as well as the training of health care providers and other usaid requests as approved by the secretary of defense. we have made great progress since the president announced our participation here. the mission is getting momentum every single day. we have added to military alliances and i can talk about hat later. i can add that to the already existing labs here and they're making a tremendous difference everyday. they are literally saving

lives. we completed construction on the monrovia bed unit. soon it will be staffed by medical professionals from the u.s. public health commission core and fully operational. we are moving forward on all fronts and our servicemembers are excited to be here working hard with their liberian counterparts to and the outbreak. this is not an easy or simple mission, but working with the librarians -- working with the liberians, i believe we are starting to make real progress. at this time, i would be happy to take your questions. >> we will start with our senior wire reporter from bloomberg. >> what provisions are being made in case u.s. troops are infected by the virus? have the hospitals been designated for care? what is in place right now if hat happens?

>> we have protocols in place with the augment of both increased medical capability and the special-purpose tag that will be helping soldiers get out of your inane a non-ebola event. if someone were to come through and unfortunately contract this disease, we have quarantine rotocols we would enact. they would be quarantined and we would put on the appropriate gear to take care of and stabilize that patient until he can arrange for transportation to move them back to a facility. >> do you see any need for contract staying companies for shipping and roll-on rolloff containers to supplement the military logistics equipment at his point?

>> there already was a vibrant and robust logistical architecture. one of our concerns when we came in here was does the country of liberia have the contracting capacity? we are very happy with the local contracting capacity that is here and we are using a lot of the leveraging, gravel, wood, nails, those sorts of things are critical to building these ebola treatment units. we are bringing some capacity in but most of that is found in the local economy used to build our various projects. >> you are spending millions of dollars or defense dollars on private u.s. or foreign contractors coming in and providing transportation assistance or construction

assistance. >> say that again? >> you do or do not anticipate spending millions of dollars of u.s. money for private contractors from the united states or europe to complement your effort? >> we have a continuum of contractors. we are the -- we are leveraging local contractors and contractors from other places as you just mentioned. there is no sole-source we are using in terms of leveraging the contracting capability in his great country. >> comeback on one thing and i have a couple of questions. the evacuation capability, are you saying people need to be evacuated because they may have een determined to be at risk

are showing no symptoms or may have fallen into a risk category, could they be evacuated by marines? that's my first question. >> thanks. there would be multiple ways we could have acted. that's possibly one way we would evacuate folks that had no known exposure or low risk and would not have ebola or exhibit ebola like symptoms. we measure twice a day, are monitoring is required by the recent guidance put out while e are here in liberia. yesterday, i had my temperature taken eight times before i got on and off aircraft and before i went on the embassy. as long as you emphasize basic sanitation and cleanliness protocols using the chlorine wash on your hands and feet, etting your temperature taken,

limiting exposure, no handshaking, those sorts of articles, i think the risk is relatively low. i'm not an epidemiologist, but it's been shown this disease is most manifest when handling bodily fluids, blood, other sorts of fluids. there is no plan right now for u.s. soldiers or sailors to do that will stop the exception is the mobile labs that are here. the ambassador and myself went up of -- went up a day or two. there are four more coming. the sailors performing the confirm or deny on the ebola virus are wearing ppe and they are testing for this virus.

the other soldiers, sailors and marines are not coming into contact with specimens. > if someone is asymptomatic at the moment but yet you have determined they came into contact but are currently asymptomatic but need to be monitored or evacuated out of the area, how are you getting them out short of them being determined to have the virus? >> they currently would be quarantined and watched will stop the personnel would attend to them and where ppe and they would be stabilized and we would provide one of these contracting mechanisms mentioned earlier. they would come and move them out to a medical facility. >> given the fact that in the united states over the last

couple of days, the cdc guidelines seems to have potentially not worked as expected. as you monitor that and look at your own following of the guidelines, are any of you looking at changing anything or censoring your own practice beyond the cdc guidelines? >> i will offer the ambassador to weigh in on this, but i have great confidence in the cdc guidelines. i meet with the current lead here daily and i have great confidence and don't land on adjusting any of the current uidelines. >> if i could just follow up on the comments related to the guidelines -- our embassy has been open and operating in this

ebola virus -- environment for six months and we have been following very carefully the cdc guidance from day one. we don't feel any need to have o make a change or deviate from the guidelines. we have made sure everyone on the staff including local employees are well versed in all of that information and to this point, they are keeping us safe. >> this is courtney from nbc news. i'm still a little unclear on the procedures if some u.s. troops are exposed. not necessarily if they have ebola, but if they are in a group, the contracting mechanism, i am assuming that is a contracting flight that would take them back to the united states. what facilities have been identified? what a good to a civilian the silty or military one? since you brought up the task, i believe those marines will

redeploy. has there been an agreement with the government care about procedures for when they get back and whether they want them quarantined? considering they are not going back to the united states immediately, is there any kind of agreement with the government? >> i know that africana is currently working the procedures for those sorts of hings and as you know, the 101st will come on and take this mission through its ompletion. we will change out next weekend, so we are also starting to work not just with spain but italy and other places where my current forces are coming from. we have folks from germany, italy and all over. that is being worked at higher

levels to work those pieces will stop >> i'm a little unclear on the specific features for evacuating troops, particularly a group of troops xposed to ebola. is a contracted aircraft that brings them back to the u.s. and where will they go? >> i would start as the ambassador just mentioned, there are nongovernmental organizations, we fell in on a host of folks who have been iving here for some time and operating in this complex environment. if some a god forbid, one of these soldiers, sailors and or marines came into contact, we would go through the appropriate mcauliffe and people would be attending to them.

no one has shown those symptoms -- i've been here 30 days as of today, so they would be quarantined and we would synchronize and work those actions so they go back to the appropriate medical facility. ask has any u.s. military medical facility then identified as the one that would accept potential ebola xposed patients? >> not to my knowledge. i would have to get back to you on that old stop i know the joint surgeon, we are in constant contact with not only the joint surgeon but our own army surgeon about appropriate protocols. i would envision -- i've got a lot of time in europe that it would be activated but i cannot comment on that.

i know that here on the ground, i am on the tactical level. my concerns are about stabilizing the soldier, airman and marine, making sure we use the appropriate ppe and then work the court and his age and and synchronization to get them to the appropriate facility where they can get the treatment they needed. >> thank you. >> this is christina from the hill. some lawmakers here are advocating for troops to directly treat it will patience. does that idea have any merit and do you foresee that happening in the future? >> that is not currently in the department of defense portfolio to do that. what we are currently adding to help fill the gaps at the elite girl agency are the mobile labs. that's the closest it comes to the ebola virus jane, if you will. we have three man sailor teams in the county who are making a big difference and handling specimens of people who have

been inflicted with the ebola virus. the medical treatment you are talking about, currently the closest that comes to is the public health command i mentioned that will be manning the 25 bed hospital. he 65 dr.-nurse teams that will flow in in the next week or so will actually be involved in the care and feeding of health care workers who have been infected with the ebola virus. >> that team of 65 doctors and nurses, are they u.s. personnel? >> yes, they are. >> progress on slowing the spread of ebola -- have you seen any progress in slowing the spread? >> not an epidemiologist. it then wants to talk about

this -- in the 30 days i have been here, i have seen great momentum. this disease requires a team of teams, the department of defense team, the department of state team, the cdc, nongovernmental organizations, all of those together are providing the momentum we currently have. i won't speak for the ambassador, but she will tell you there has been some change and a lot of the projections have been assuming no interventions. a lot of interventions are happening on scale. aid has six streams that they track and the ambassador runs a daily update and we get the progress of how we are doing gainst it. i will tell you a lot of momentum is starting to occur and i'm very optimistic about our ability as a team to get fter this fight.

>> if you could elaborate on what exactly you think the impact has been so far of your mission there on the overall effort to stem the outbreak. related to that, one of the explanations we heard at the beginning was reading in this logistical help, more ngos and more organizations would be able to move, arrive and help. are you see a -- are you seeing that and could usaid address that? >> i will let then start that. >> in line with the question regarding the trends, it's difficult to make a concrete statement on the trends based on epidemiological data. you have to look at several

epidemiological weeks and we are constantly working to improve the surveillance on the data and monitoring a trend there. what i can say is the whole of government efforts the u.s. has wrought has definitely been catalyzing in not only bringing the hope for improved efforts at breaking this chain of infection but has improved the momentum behind the international expert for -- we work in full support with the government of liberia' for the reduction of the ebola out rate. we are putting together up to 17 ebola treatment units will stop 65 community care centers, to laboratories are in lace. providing training for local and international staff that will man these ebola treatment centers. significant logistics undertaking international and in country.

we have stood up 56 face burial teams -- safe burial teams that provide access to safe aerials countrywide. it's in the effort of the united nations to support the effort of the government of liberia. >> if i could add on to 10 loss excellent explanation. in this fight, leadership is very important. the leadership is working in complex empire months and eadership by the government of liberia and others here cannot be underestimated. i often hear from folks as the ambassador, myself and a id confront this, they say you give us hope. the ambassador's leadership, a

id's leadership is adding fuel to those gaps, trying to fill those gaps with our unique capabilities, our engineering oversight. the first week i was here, africa, commander redirected a lot of the effort and there has been over the shoulder expertise and stuff is going up n a vertical and resolved away very quickly. lastly, i will talk about the armed forces of liberia and what we are calling exercise it united shield. the brigadier general who is the commander of the armed forces of liberia, we have partnered with them and had you been out with us yesterday, if you had been out yesterday and you had seen all of these staffers, the liberian engineers constructing one of the ebola treatment units, it was awesome.

we have a lot of momentum tarted here. >> i have a follow-up. going back to your comments earlier about the hospital that is now constructed, we had understood u.s. personnel would be training health care workers. but it sounds like what you are saying is u.s. personnel will actually be working with and treating health care workers there who may be infected with the virus. is that correct? >> both of your comments are correct. we have been asked to help train the health care workers year, up to 500 week. we will do 200 here in and around monrovia and then have three teams in and around the area. up to 500 health care workers, we have been helped to ask any overall training effort. vod is not shouldering all of the training piece.

he u.s. public health services are providing support to health care workers who, if they are unfortunately stricken with the disease, that is what their purposes. i hope you never have to put anybody in it, but that is the purpose of the u.s. public health services and their job here. >> this is u.s. public health services. >> tony, maggie, jennifer and that is probably it. >> my question goes to budgetary resources. the dod portion is expected to last six months will stop i'm wondering if you can say that would be sufficient or if you expect to have to come back and get additional funding will stop i think -- additional funding. i think it's $725 million so far. >> i believe we have the

resources we need to fill the gaps a id has asked us to fill what our unique capabilities. that's probably all i want to say on that right now. i know the department of defense is committed to this, but the ambassador talked about that. there have been folks pulling squaon this rope for some time and we were brought in to fill some of those unique gaps. i will have helicopters here, and what they are principally doing -- i did not answer this earlier. they are principally completing the flight surveys. when you been to one unit, you been to one unit. the ones in and around monrovia are flat. but when you go up north or south east you are in the jungle. you have the afl helping us clear the sites, and they are

there with machetes hacking down the jungle, and that is also the local officials there. we are not just dumping these where we want. we are working with the communities and districts, the government of liberia to put these where they need to be and they are cited based on where the government of liberia tells us they need to be. i'm comfortable where we are with resources. we will see this through. the fact we are bringing in one of our 10 divisions, the 101st irborne division, he has about 40 folks on the ground. if nothing else, the last 12 or 13 years have taught us how to do that. he wills -- he will fit right in with the leadership already sked that. >> jennifer griffin from fox

news. if i can ask all three of you what are the biggest challenges, and most urgent challenges you are facing right now, the biggest problems you are facing and do you believe the u.s. should halt flights from liberia and the affected areas there? neighboring african countries have closed the borders. why do you not think it's a good idea to halt flights from west africa? >> i will do the first part and hand the rest to the ambassador. challenges for department of defense -- it rains a lot here. the infrastructure is challenging. that's why we are using the vertical component of this great country. we have been asked to build these ebola treatment units and resource them by using the ater out of the air, so my biggest challenge right now is orking through the

environment. the ambassador tells me that the season is about to change, so we are about to go into ifferent conditions. i would not say we underestimated, but i think we did not realize how wet it would be here and that is somewhat of a challenge will stop >> major-general williams has outlined some of the physical challenges of stop i would identify the issue of poor infrastructure. that, you can interpret in many ifferent ways. as a goal infrastructure, human infrastructure, this is a very poor country only 11 years removed from a long and devastating civil war that really destroyed everything. some of that rebuilding has happened, but when you have an epidemic like this if ebola epidemic, that's affecting all parts of the country, it's very difficult to access many of the

parts of the country in order to find out exactly what the disease is doing in some of these remote areas. we have the overall challenge of understanding how we can communicate with all parts of the country and that what level we need to communicate our messaging to liberians. it varies greatly. the complex nature of this in an urban area like monrovia has never been seen before. we are looking at two separate kinds of epidemics. what happens in monrovia in a crowded area and what happens in a rural environment where you have a population with very low literacy, that is quite cut off from the rest of the country. the challenges are many, but that said, we are making progress overcoming those challenges. fortunately, though weather will be one of the least of our

challenges, but we will continue to front -- to confront this difficulty in getting out to the other parts of the city, other parts of the country. as to the issue of whether or not orders should be closed, president obama and others have been clear all along that isolating these countries is not the way to address the epidemic. we need to be able to get people, resources, and supplies in. it has been quite challenging over the last several months because there has been a reduction in commercial flights and reduction in shipping that comes to the country. it's very difficult to get angst like food and supplies at her critically needed to help address this epidemic. address this epidemic. address this epidemic. >> i think that said about the various challenge that is we face in this response, it's certainly a response unlike any we've ever undertaken before. but based on the range of activities and leadership that has been brought to this

response, certainly in part by the u.s. government, we're certainly seeing a more effective and more responsive international effort. and the challenges working amongst all of these deficiencies that exist in the basic health system, and just the lack of knowledge of how to battle this disease, the challenge is really maintaining an effective and dynamic response against an often unseen adversary. >> washington times. general, yesterday you said that you were hoping that international partners would contribute protective equipment and other supplies to the ebola mission. you said that they've required seven personal protection equipment pieces per bed per day. i would like to know why you need help in that area. does this indicate a lack of access to searn amount of supplies or the supplies are too expensive? and then the next question is

just for all three of youse. germany wants to assist but the company would be unable to transport their people back. australian officials said the same thing. would the u.s. government consider providing transportation to the international partners in order to kind of facilitate the process? and is that a conversation that's ongoing at this point? >> i'll speak to the personal protective equipment piece. when treating ebola, the specificication or requirements for ppe is of the highest importance. many of the infections particularly amongst health care workers is actually when they are taking off and putting on the ppe. so while there are a range of personal protective equipment items available throughout the world, it's important that we have the exact specificications required to safely provide care to ebola patients. there certainly is a lot of

discussion around how to improve the pipeline and supply of these materials and there's an international working group amongst many interested organizations and nations to ensure that that pipeline stays robust and adequate for the response. >> if i may, on the issue of medical evacuation, this is a topic of great discussion for the last several months, not just since the arrival of the u.s. military here. as we together have sought to encourage international health care responders to come in and help to fight this disease. i would point out that in fact germany is bringing -- is going to take over the operation of e of the ebola treatment units within the next two to three weeks will be a combination of the red cross as well as german military medical personnel who will be working together. germany has received already to

date three e.b.d. positive patients from liberia or sierra leone for treatment. so they do have the capacity in germany to treat these patients. but the discussion about -- we obviously need a more robust and more organized and coordinated process. so it's very clear what will happen in the event that someone is in need of an evacuation as a result of ebola. this is an ongoing conversation at the capital level. i know my colleagues in washington are quite engaged with a number of countries to determine how best to manage that type of a system. >> our very own stars and stripes. >> john harper with stars and stripes. do you anticipate that you're going to need more troops as this effort goes on, including national guard or reserve? and also, what kind of force protection measures are in

place for u.s. troops over there in liberia? >> so as you know, the president announced the troop level that we would need over here. so as you know, for any of these kinds of contingencies, the commander on the ground will make recommendations up -- up the chain of command if he or she needed more resources to accomplish the mission as we support a.i.d. and the government of liberia. so i'm comfortable with the secretary of defense has approved in terms of the force that is will flow in over here over the next -- i guess i should have mentioned some time ago. we're about 500 now, a little over, in skwloint operational area. that includes senegal. i didn't mention it earlier but we have a staging base in senegal. the idea behind that is to give us more agility to move into theater and increase our ability to rapidly resupply and

bring soldiers, sailors, airmen and marine and equipment into monrofia, which is the center of gravity and where aide has asked us to focus. but we will also have some capacity at senegal to enable the onward movement. the force protection is what i talked about. when you're talking about force protection in terms of ebola or, yes, other types of force protection? >> including if someone infected with ebola tried to approach sufment troops. or if there was some other domestic unrest. for both of those, really. >> yes, sir. so on the higher end in terms of the force protection piece, i've worked very closely with the government of liberia and the ambassador. i feel very comfortable with the current r.o.e. that's in place. as the commander object ground we have certain authorities to protect american service folks,

soldiers, sailors, air mep, marines and or united states equipment. and those are in place now approved by the ambassador, approved by the government of liberia. that's sort of the high end. but as i mentioned earlier, this is a very permissive environment. libeians like americans and we're liken libeians. they've already told us that. this is not afghanistan or iraq. so we have depending on where you are in the country of liberia, we have different mod lated r.o.e. in terms of that force protection. but with respect to the ebola piece it's discipline. every day in the morning with my breakfast i take a malaria pill. that's my biggest concern. we don't shake hands. i wash my hands a lot. ok? with color rein. we step on color rein. we don't shake hands. we keep our distance.

as i mentioned before, soldiers sailors airmen and marine are not in contact with folks inflicted with the ebola virus. they are not and are not going to be, besides the folks i mentioned, the u.s. public health services if, god forbid, one of the health care workers came in contact with that. so that's our force protection for the ebola piece. we feel comfortable. i will tell you when i came in here 30 days ago and i was flying in, i was calling talking to all my c.d.c. friends and my friends trying to find out exactly the kind of environment we were going to be operating in. but if you're here, there's vitality here. this country is not hunkrd down from this dreadful disease. as i drive around and fly around, there's vitality here. folks are getting about their daily lives. and are very, very resilient. so i would not say there's no

risk. but there's risk that can be tampered down if you take the appropriate discipline and use the protocols as established by c.d.c. >> that's it for questions. ambassador or ben or general, do you have any closing comments you want to leave us with? >> nothing. >> i would just like to say that we are -- we appreciate all the assistance that the u.s. military is bringing to our -- to the fight here, and that we are all together here working very, very strongly and very, very well together to support the plan and we are going to get on top of this. however long it takes. we hope it is going to be faster and sooner than anybody would like, but we think it will happen. it's just a question of when. >> and i would just like to add to the ambassador's comments that the department of defense and there are more than just soldiers sailors airmen and

marine. they're also civilians over here. i have some of my staff that are doing a fantastic job. we're motivated, part of a greater team, and here to fill the gaps as a.i.d. identifies for us with the government of liberia. so it is a very noble mission and we're proud to do it with ur teammates here. >> today, general austin will brief reporters at the penguin on the latest in combating isis in syria. at noon we join the hudson institute for a panel discussion on the obama administration's degrade and destroy approach to combating isis. that starts at noon eastern on ur companion network c-span 2. this morning on c-span, f.b.i. director talks' about the impact of changing

technologiesology law enforcement. then live at 7:00 a.m. eastern "washington journal" taking a look at new ebola screening procedures at u.s. airports. and the continued operation against isis in iraq and syria. >> legal scholars and open government advocates discuss government transparency today at the american bar association's administrative law conference. live with panels on nsa surveillance, drones, and the freedom of information act tarting at 12:45 p.m. eastern. on the alaska senate race between mark begich and his republican challenger, dan sullivan. ce, we're joined.

>> good morning. give us the status. what do we know about mark begich's chances of holding on to his seat? --guest: an.org he had he had momentum early. it seems like early september, he lost the lead. the republican, dan sullivan, is holding a small but significant lead. , six points, depending on the poll that you look at. host: what will be the key battlegrounds you look at? where will the race be decided? the outside money and the campaign seem to be focused on anchorage. the hometown of the former governor of sarah palin is a

where i thinkrea a lot of the energies are focused on. bigr is trying to have a push. host: we have been trying to bring our viewers local issues as well as national issues as well. what is pebble mine? mine in proposed western alaska. very large. it has groups in that area and also around the state. both candidates in general are trying to say that federal overreach is a that thing. that is a huge theme we keep hearing in the campaign. how, "i will stand against federal overreach."

unusual or took the bold move in supporting the epa in ruling against the mine. it has been called a preemptive veto because it has not applied for permits yet. but he said, no, i support that, because this would be bad for fisheries in western alaska -- western alaska. that appeal to some native groups and commercial fishermen. host: remind voters who didn't sullivan is. what is his background? guest: he has been called the guy with a golden resume. an ivy league education. he worked in the bush white house.

he worked in the state department. under condoleezza rice. -- a marine, an active-duty marine. he was alaska's attorney general for a brief time. -- naturalational resources commissioner, a big job in alaska. one of the things the mark begich campaign is pushing, he came to alaska as an adult, so he is not from alaska. that has been something, a narrative, thread throughout the campaign. one of the key figures play into the race is a republican, the other contender. here is a recent mark begich at mentioning that senator. >> we have over 3000 telecommunications jobs in

alaska and mark begich has fought to protect them. a ceo of one of alaska's largest companies. i worked with mark when he transformed the economy. he did the same thing as senator. , one of thee works only states with both senators on the appropriations committee. we cannot afford to lose that. i voted for lease and now i am voting for mark. is joining usin on the phone. alaska public radio network air it how did she feel about being mentioned in a mark i get at? -- mark begich ad? picture run was a with that showing the both smiling at each other. the senator issued a cease and desist letter to try to get the campaign not to use her image. she said they were implying he

has her support when she -- he does not. backing danng -- sullivan. about her support for dan sullivan, here is that advertisement. >> we are all tired of the negative advertisements. i am especially disappointed by the dishonest attacks by dan sullivan. i need a partner in the senate who will work to advance alaska's interests. alaska needs dan sullivan. joining us onin the phone. six debates in nine days later this month in alaska. what are you expecting out of those debates. what issues will be the key issues? to say.t is hard we have seen debates between them, many debates between them. i do not know.

i can imagine fisheries will be a hot topic. -- toughercopper against epa the federal government. hard to say. we have not got much to go on. there have been two debates between them so far. host: polling numbers also, not a whole lot to go on but a few polls in alaska. why is it so hard to pull alaska? there are far-flung communities, people a little bit off the grid. one conservative candidate joked that his constituents did not like to answer the phone for fear the nsa was listening in. he was obviously joking, but there is a little bit of, you know, not being so henley to telephone pollsters. it is hard to say area -- say. , on herz ruskin

>> on thursday, talking about the impact of changing technologies on law enforcement and how new features hinder the ability to access things that could be used against criminals. this is about an hour. >> good morning, everyone. welcome to brookings. this event will set a brookings record for the height differential between guests and host. i'm kidding. the director is actually not that short. so i am going to be very recent because we have limited time,