Larsen Calls on President Trump to Step Up Efforts to Combat Ebola and Protect National Security

Statement

This week, Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-02) sent a letter to President Trump calling for the U.S. to combat the current outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The outbreak is already the second worst in history with more than 500 cases, including nearly 300 deaths.

"Experts at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are among the very best in the world, having gained valuable experience during the largely unsung success of the response to the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak. These agencies have responded to other global emergencies where security threats were present. U.S. leadership will be critical to halting the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC and could convince other countries to increase their commitments," Larsen wrote in the letter.

As Larsen noted in his letter, deploying CDC and USAID personnel to the epicenter of the outbreak would protect national security and align with the National Security Strategy and National Biodefense Strategy.

"I believe the U.S. response to date has been overly cautious. I ask you to direct the National Security Council to assess how many U.S. personnel are needed in North Kivu and Ituri, how to most effectively use them to combat the epidemic and how best to protect responders from security threats," Larsen continued.

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