whitehouse | As the President has stated, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and
the humanitarian crisis there is a top national security priority for
the United States. In order to contain and combat it, we are partnering
with the United Nations and other international partners to help the
Governments of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal
respond just as we fortify our defenses at home. Every outbreak of Ebola
over the past 40 years has been contained, and we are confident that
this one can—and will be—as well.
Our strategy is predicated on four key goals:
- Controlling the epidemic at its source in West Africa;
- Mitigating second-order impacts, including blunting the economic, social, and political tolls in the region;
- Engaging and coordinating with a broader global audience; and,
- Fortifying global health security infrastructure in the region and beyond.
The United States has applied a whole-of-government response to the
epidemic, which we launched shortly after the first cases were reported
in March. As part of this, we have dedicated additional resources across
the federal government to address the crisis, committing more than $175
million to date. We continue to work with Congress to provide
additional resources through appropriations and reprogramming efforts in
order to be responsive to evolving resource needs on the ground. Just
as the outbreak has worsened, our response will be commensurate with the
challenge.
New Resources to Confront a Growing Challenge
The United States will leverage the unique capabilities of the U.S.
military and broader uniformed services to help bring the epidemic under
control. These efforts will entail command and control, logistics
expertise, training, and engineering support.
- U.S. Africa Command will set up a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia, to provide regional command and control support to U.S. military activities and facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts. A general from U.S. Army Africa, the Army component of U.S. Africa Command, will lead this effort, which will involve an estimated 3,000 U.S. forces.
