Global health experts say a decision to dismantle the National Security Council's global health security office left the Trump administration ill-prepared to confront the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
Shortly after being named to lead the National Security Council in April 2018, John Bolton nixed the office in a bid to streamline the agency, according to USA Today.
But Bolton denied the move weakened the national's bio defense.
He tweeted on Saturday: "Claims that streamlining NSC structures impaired our nation's bio defense are false. Global health remained a top NSC priority, and its expert team was critical to effectively handling the 2018-19 Africa Ebola crisis. The angry Left just can't stop attacking, even in a crisis."
And President Donald Trump, asked on Friday about the decision to disband the office, said: "I just think it's a nasty question. I didn't do it. ... I don't know anything about it."
But Jeremy Konyndyk, a senior policy fellow at the Center for Global Development, wrote in Just Security: "Bolton's chosen approach to NSC 'streamlining' involved decapitating and diluting the White House's focus on pandemic threats."
And Beth Cameron, who headed the office during the Obama administration, wrote in a Washington Post column: "I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19."
Tim Morrison, who was one of Bolton's deputies at the NSC, said the dismantling of the office did not present a problem.
"We could have nipped this thing in the bud if the Chinese had come clean earlier," he said.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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