WASHINGTON — He has tackled the financial crisis, served two vice presidents and been portrayed by Kevin Spacey in an HBO film, but Ron Klain’s newest job as the U.S. point person on Ebola might be his toughest challenge to date.
A longtime Democratic operative, Klain was tasked Friday by President Barack Obama with running the government’s response to the Ebola crisis. Klain has been a trusted adviser at the Obama White House, and served as Vice President Joe Biden’s chief of staff from 2009 to 2011 and as Vice President Al Gore’s from 1995 to 1999.
Klain has been out of government since leaving Biden’s office during Obama’s first term. The White House said that Klain would report to national security adviser Susan Rice and to Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser Lisa Monaco.
Klain, a lawyer, also served as chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore and was a key figure during the 2000 Florida presidential election recount. He previously served under Attorney General Janet Reno in the Clinton administration.
One thing absent from Klain’s resume: a medical background.
Klain does not have any major public health experience, but the White House is calling the new post an “Ebola response coordinator,” suggesting the role is intended more to synchronize the actions of various agencies rather than to weigh in on the specifics of how best to stop Ebola.
“This is much broader than a medical response,” Earnest said. He cited Klain’s management in the private and public sector and his relations with Congress and within the White House.
“He is the right person for the job, and the right person to make sure we are integrating the interagency response to this significant challenge,” Earnest said.
Obama has been under pressure to name an Ebola “czar” to oversee health security in the U.S. and actions to help stem the outbreak in West Africa, where nearly 4,500 people have died from the virus.
On Thursday, Obama conceded that such a point person might in fact be necessary even as he praised his adviser for doing “an outstanding job.”
But he said that several of his advisers, including Monaco and CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden, are also confronting other priorities. He noted that Frieden is also dealing with flu season, and Monaco and Rice are spending time on the Islamic State extremists in the Middle East.
“It may make sense for us to have one person … so that after this initial surge of activity we can have a more regular process just to make sure we are crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s,” he said.
In a statement, the White House noted that as Biden’s chief of staff, Klain helped with the implementation of the White House stimulus package of 2009. Klain is president of Case Holdings and General Counsel at Revolution LLC, a technology venture capital firm based in Washington, DC.
