We have this under control, or it will never spread. It was not supposed to get over here either. A wonderful discussion right now on the ebola virus. That theen revealed and came left liberia from west africa over here. Nobody checks him out. He goes right into the dallas , therety and as a result are people in quarantines. He is in the hospital. I am proud to welcome him general rodriguez. He is here to interview an update on the u. S. Military contributions against ebola in west africa. I will turn it over to you. I will moderate. Weve got 30 minutes total. Good morning. Good to see you all again. I am glad to have the opportunity to talk to you about the u. S. Africa supportive competence of government effort to help contain the outbreak of ebola in west africa. As you know, the president considers this to be a National Security priority that requires mobilizing our collective resources to enable the success of the International Effort. Recently, i discussed the progress of the response with the president. In support of the u. S. Government effort, the military focus is on providing logistics, training, and engineering support in conjunction with the greater interagency effort. We stood up headquarters in command in liberia, regional coordination of u. S. Military support to the u. S. And International Relief efforts. Finally, we placed two additional mobile medical labs into operation last week, significantly increasing the capacity for rapidly diagnosing ebola. We also enable healthcare workers to safely provide direct medical care to patients. This is very important and i want you to help us to tell our families and the American Public the health and safety of the teams supporting this mission is our priority. By providing predeployment training and adhering to strict medical protocols while deployed and carrying out carefully planned reintegration efforts, i have confidence we can ensure our Service Members safety and the safety of their families and the american people. As we deploy americas sons and daughters in this effort, we will do everything in our power to mitigate the risk to our Service Members. That includes employees, contractors and their families. Preventing the spread of ebola is the core of our effort. This applies to our own support efforts and our own people. The professionals of Doctors Without Borders have a record of safe operation in their fight against the spread of ebola. We have looked at their procedures and consulted with the centers of disease control, the World Health Organization and others to develop our protocols based on known risks prudent planning. We are taking the following steps. We are implementing procedures to reduce or eliminate the risk of transmission to Service Members as they go through their Daily Missions while deployed including use of personal , hygiene equipment. Let me assure you that, by providing the predeployment training, adhering to strict medical protocols, and carefully planned reintegration measures, i am confident we can ensure our servicemembers safety and the safety of the american people. Our equipment, training, and will help to ensure that our team accomplish and the mission without putting our mission and fellow citizens at risk. Stopping the spread of this disease is the core mission. We are focused in all of our efforts to accomplish this by supporting the International Effort and by keeping our own people as safe as we can. With that, i will take your questions. Thank you. There have been some questions about whether the response to the overall crisis has been too slow. Do the troops you have now are they enough to get the job done . Or do you think, in order to move things along more rapidly, do you think you will need more troops there . Do you have a cost estimate . First of all, one of the challenges is continuing to gain situational understanding over time because of some of the isolated places that is creating problems. We are supporting the usaid efforts to do that. Right now, the leadership has approved up to almost 4000 people. Admiral kirby talked to you about that. We have a lot of flexibility to put people in there as they are needed. The speed with which these things are done, it is not just one challenge. Part of it is the ability of the host nation to absorb it. As you can imagine, their infrastructure and their capacity to house people, to feed people, is limited. So it will have to come in in a very carefully orchestrated based on the demand out front. At the same time, they are increasing their situational understanding of their situation at the same time. So these mobile labs are very important. As you can imagine, some people have malaria and some people have the flu and it is important to understand who you have to treat and who you dont. We already have two of more those in, and they are already having impact and we have more on the way to better adjust. That is not what we expected when we got the first mission. I think we have the right flex ability and the ability to adjust as needed. Cost . The cost estimates right now are probably around 750 million for our efforts. That is in a sixmonth period. Again the challenge with doing , that is that, those labs for example, they were not in the initial plan. So it will have to be a freeflowing, flexible on all of that. Nbc. Journal will any u. S. Military , personnel be involved in the direct treatment of any ebola patients or in the training of Health Care Givers . Will they come into contact with any ebola patients . No. The mobile labs are different. But no for the majority of the force. The mobile labs are testing people so some of that will have the ebola virus. Those are trained at the highest level of Something Like nuclear, biological, and chemical. So they are trained at a very high level. The one from walter reed has been operating there for many years, for example. And the two that we just deployed meet those standards of training. Do you have any numbers of those who will be involved in the Lab Operations . What kind of protections or what kind of protocol will be observed . And if any u. S. Military personnel should contract ebola, what is the protocol there . What happens . First, on the numbers in the labs, they are between a three and a fourperson team. We have three labs deployed right now. We will probably deploy several others. So one lab adds three to four additional people. Again, those people are trained at the highest level of nuclear, biological, chemical arena and they are testing all the people. They are the primary ones that will be contacting anybody. On the second point, if somebody does contract ebola and becomes symptomatic, they will be handled just like you have seen on the recent ones who came back on an aircraft that was specially designed to bring them back and they will go back to one of the centers that is specially designed to handle the ebola patients right now. So they will be returned to the u. S. . Yes. Fox news. Will forces and personnel be working sidebyside with liberian troops as they build these emergency treatment units . I thought we had been told that they would be separate run the liberian forces. Is there a risk of contamination by working closely with the partner nations troops . First question. And do you have enough of the personal protective equipment that you need or is there a shortage of that . Have you stockpiled any of the zmapp. We have people that will be working with and observing the other people that are building the etus. Our contractors will make sure they are meeting the standards and oversight. All the people who are doing that are tested and meet all the medical protocols and ensure they do not have the disease. Then the continual daily checks are also a part of it. So all of the people we are working with go through those medical protocols. On the last point, the virus, we do not have that stockpiled. You have to get the Expert Opinion of the cdc, but that is still to be determined whether it is effective or not and they will be able to tell if that is effective or not. We have sufficient adjective equipment for ourselves and we will continue to make sure that is the way throughout the process. Military times. Can you tell us a little bit about where these three or 4000 medical servicemembers will be housed . And can you tell us about what kind of personal protective gear and what kind of hygiene protocols and monitoring will be done on a daily basis . For the majority of the people, they will be in places like the minister of defense or some of the military posts that are out there, some will be at the airfield and at the locations where people will be flown in. We will have trainers that are in a training facility. Most of these places that are in and around monrovia are in buildings. The people will either live in the ministry of defense areas or they will live in tent city type procedures where everything will be taking care of them, including their food and water and all of those things. You have to watch all of that at these points. Then the protocols that occur in the daily monitoring, malay, it mainly, it is built around the multiple washings with your hands and feet and everything else. When you go into one of these ebola treatment units, you will wash your hands and feet multiple times. You will have your temperature taken in and out. There is a checklist for each personnel on the virus or any other sickness that might be coming up. It is a self questionnaire and checklist. The personal protective gear, the majority of the people will with personalploy protective gear that includes gloves and masks and things like that. They dont need the whole suit as such because they will not be in contact with any of the people. Cbs. Understanding your point about the ability of liberia to absorb all the stuff, you have the feeling that, if the American Embassy were under attack in liberia, it would not take weeks to get there. So what is it about this operation that makes it seem to be unrolling in a much slower pace than sending u. S. Troops to protect Americans First . The protect americans peace is a small number. We have five times that we have sent in to libya to protect the u. S. Embassy in that situation. That infrastructure there, with all the ability to sustain themselves. The other challenge in liberia, as you can imagine, their whole nation is overwhelmed. Their Health Facilities are overwhelmed. That is all broken down. We have to bring in everything at the same time. Again, right now, they arent even located in all the locations they want to be. Those are some of the challenges we are being faced with that we just want to overwhelm them, and thrust things in their that they cant absorb. The airfield is the same way. Foreign policy. Can you tell us how the decision was made to not have u. S. Medical personnel treat ebola patients directly, and do you have concerns about manning these ebola treatment units on the ground . There have been calls from Doctors Without Borders that more people are needed, not just more facilities. Both are needed. Im not sure how the decision was made. The bottom line is, that is the position of the leadership area. It is the International Communitys role right now, that is where everyone is encouraging people to come forward to do that. That is where we stand until we and continually adapt to what is going on on the ground. We are filling in demands that the International Community needs us to do. That is for command and control. It is for engineering support. It is for logistics. Those types of things. That is where we are focusing our efforts. That is what they have asked us to do. Do you believe that there is a scenario that you can see that would push you past 3900, and on the question of security, do you think the concerns in congress about the security of u. S. Troops there for this decontamination risk, in a situation where people are trying to get into an area that was offlimits do think those concerns are overblown . I think we have Service Members wherever they go have the ability to defend and protect themselves. They will have that here. I think we will meet that standard, no matter where we go. We will do that here too. If the contaminated person is unarmed . We have the same rules of engagement everywhere we go. It is the approved rules of engagement. That is about protecting the self, selfdefense. We want to make sure you understand that when people get infected, they are not capable of doing a mounted attack. The only one can get into you to the facilities are the sickest ones. They dont have the ability to move. They have had zero problems that i know of in the ebola treatment units right now, handling people at the gates. Its a very small element. 4000 . The 4000 it depends how everything goes. I cant answer that question. I dont for see more than that right now. Things can change. It is a fastchanging situation. We are still gaining understanding throughout the whole region. I think that would be the driving factor. Litter go. Politico. Can you give us the latest estimate about how long it is going to take to get all the Treatment Centers and do the work you need to do, up and running . Can you give us a sense of how long american troops will be on this mission . The Treatment Centers, to get the ones we have been tasked to build probably until midnovember. They are working on an effort there to get more people to build some of those at different times. We will just have to see how it flexes out. We will probably be able to continue to improve the speed with which we build them. After you get one done, the second set goes faster. That is the estimate to get all 17 done. What was the second question . How long will troops be doing this . The critical thing to this , based on cdc numbers is to get 70 of people infected into an infirmary. At that the curve will go down. Point, it depends on how fast the curve goes down, and how the International Community can pick up the requirements. We will stay as long as were needed, but not longer. Six months, a year . I do not. I am sure it will be about a year. That is just a guess. We will have to play that by ear. It is all about the transmission rates, and when that curve starts going down. Could you give us a sense about your cooperation with regional countries in west africa, and you think other countries, other than log. , are safe other than liberia, are safe . Sierra leone and guinea are also threatened by this. We are working with the french and the u. K. , who are also doing some things like putting a hospital up, like a 25 person hospital. Most of those efforts are being run and controlled by the United Nations and the International Community. We coordinate and communicate with them. We do not direct them or anything. About the cost can you tell us where the 750 million is coming from . Is that coming out of the continuing resolution . Do you anticipate the pentagon needing to request more money in 2015 for the response . You would have to ask the comptrollers for that. It is a reprogramming effort, i dont know what that is coming from. They were working got on the hill. Osc policy is leading that effort. They could tell you where it exactly is coming from. Thank you. I wanted to clarify one thing it is in fact Service Members who will be operating this testing labs in the field . Correct. We have been told that Service Members are not going to come in contact with patients. Now we are being told that is changing. The labs are a separate specialty element of the force. That is probably where that has come from. As far as the general population, they wont be coming in contact. These labs are trained to a specially skilled level. It is the highest level. They can operate in a nuclear, biological, and chemical environment. They are specifically trained to do that. That is their primary skill set. We had one in their that has been operating for several years in the country that works on infectious diseases. We have both the navy and the army with medical labs in many countries doing just that, to monitor these things. How many do you expect will be running these labs . Three or four per lab. It is a testing facility. They test it in a full, biological, suited up they meet the highest standards of operating in that environment. A clarification on that will they be in contact with individuals or just specimens . They individuals. Come into contact with individuals. It is a very High Standard that these people have operated in all their lives. This is their primary skill. This is not medical guys just trained to do this. This is what they do for a living. And how many labs total with their there are three labs, and a request for four more labs. We are working to generate that. The testing really focuses who you need to treat, and who dont need to treat. Malaria shows up with similar symptoms. They have had a major impact, and the more the better for the effectiveness of the effort. Right you expect one general to replace the other general. The way that commandandcontrol is set for the component is that it has the ability to do small humanitarian things for a very short period of time. This is not a small effort. It is not a short period of time. We will get a headquarters from the United States out there to do that. General williams also has a significant job doing lots of other things everything will day that we need him working on in the rest of africa. That is the way the design structure of command and control is set up. When we get there . In the next three weeks. Thanks, we appreciate you coming. [no audio] director and the Texas Health Commissioner spoke with reporters today on the current Ebola Outbreak in the u. S. This is 35 minutes. Good morning. It afternoon. Today is one week since the first nation was diagnosed. People begin to look back and think about it,