--- title: Obama Appoints Ron Klain As Ebola Czar description: President Barack Obama has appointed longtime insider Ron Klain to coordinate the administration's global response to the Ebola epidemic. canonical: https://time.com/3516888/obama-ron-klain-ebola-czar/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T14:52:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:00:27.796Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama Appoints Ron Klain As Ebola Czar og:description: President Barack Obama has appointed longtime insider Ron Klain to coordinate the administration's global response to the Ebola epidemic. og:url: https://time.com/3516888/obama-ron-klain-ebola-czar/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3243650babe96287/69876146f887dc8115e878f6/ron-klain-ebola-czar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1803 og:image:height: 1014 og:image:alt: Lawyer and politcal operative Ron Klain on May 13, 2008 in New York City. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama Appoints Ron Klain As Ebola Czar twitter:description: President Barack Obama has appointed longtime insider Ron Klain to coordinate the administration's global response to the Ebola epidemic. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3243650babe96287/69876146f887dc8115e878f6/ron-klain-ebola-czar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama Appoints Ron Klain As Ebola Czar > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=65879726-baba-4e8d-ae9d-318fa1dcf55f&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers [Watch (HLS stream): Science Cop: Ebola Fear Mongers](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fwl31d5e.m3u8) (2:30)  _Published 2014-10-10. TIME's Science Cop Jeffrey Kulger takes on the media figures stirring up panic in the aftermath of the ebola outbreak._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 17, 2014 2:52 PM UTC  Lawyer and politcal operative Ron Klain on May 13, 2008 in New York City. Lawyer and politcal operative Ron Klain on May 13, 2008 in New York City. Andrew H. Walker—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Oct 17, 2014 2:52 PM UTC President Barack Obama has appointed longtime insider Ron Klain to coordinate the administration’s global response to the Ebola epidemic, a White House official confirmed. The move came just hours after a Texas nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating a patient with the disease was moved from Dallas to the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. “The President has asked Ron Klain to take on the task of coordinating his administration’s whole of government Ebola response,” the official said Friday. “He will report directly to the President’s Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco and the President’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice as he ensures that efforts to protect the American people by detecting, isolating and treating Ebola patients in this country are properly integrated but don’t distract from the aggressive commitment to stopping Ebola at the source in West Africa.” Klain, who served as chief of staff to Vice President Biden and former Vice President Al Gore, helped to oversee the 2009 stimulus bill. He will now be tasked with coordinating both the domestic public health response and the international humanitarian and military efforts to stop the virus in West Africa. Klain will work out of the White House’s West Wing. “Klain’s role is consistent with the view the President articulated in the Oval Office \[Thursday\] night that Monaco, Rice and others have done outstanding work in confronting this challenge so far – but given their management of other national and homeland security priorities, additional bandwidth will further enhance the government’s Ebola response,” the White House official said. Republican lawmakers had been calling on the White House to appoint the so-called “czar” for weeks to lead the Administration’s response. The White House had been cool on the subject until Thursday, when Obama told reporters he was considering making such an appointment. Other Obama “czars” have coordinated the auto bailout and the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, to boost banks after the 2008 financial crisis. ## Transcript Ebola in America . >> Out of control . >> Killer disease >> Spreading fast >> Ebola >> On the backs of ISIS >> There's a lot of panic >> Chilling, deadly, dangerous >> Scarier by the moment >> Shut down the flights, secure the borders . >> By now you've heard about Americas Ebola crisis, the disease has landed on our shores and a few blown epidemic is on the way. That's scary stuff, but almost none of it is true. And here's why. [ MUSIC ] There's no denying that Ebola is a terrifying disease. The current outbreak has struck about 7, 500 people in Africa so far. And almost half have died. The nature of that death with organs breaking down and bleeding out is one of the worst kinds of suffering imaginable. But put simply Ebola is not a easy virus to contract, while a disease like flu can be spread by shaking hands with someone who is infected, Ebola is spread by direct contact with bodily fluid such as the blood of vomit of someone who is infected. And symptomatic. A victim who was infected but not yet showing symptoms will typically not transmit the disease. But you won't hear that from the fear mongers, some of whom support clamping down on travel to and from the affected areas in Africa, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. According to the centers for disease control that would make it harder to get doctors and medical supplies back and fourth perhaps crippling efforts to wipe out the disease at its source and while cable news speculates that a terrorist infected with Ebola could board mass transit and spread the disease to everyone on board that could happen only if all of the passengers sat patiently. While the terrorist went from one to another, and bled or vomited on each, with their full cooperation. So, should we be afraid of Ebola? Of course. It's a very lethal and very ugly disease. But is America in any immediate danger? [ MUSIC ] No. Our real job is to care for the people who were infected, sensibly protect those who aren't, and lend our considerable resources to battling the disease in Africa, where people have no time for this silly luxury of fear mongers [ UNKNOWN ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3516888/obama-ron-klain-ebola-czar/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3516888/obama-ron-klain-ebola-czar/"},"headline":"Obama Appoints Ron Klain As Ebola Czar","datePublished":"2014-10-17T14:52:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:00:27.796Z","description":"He's a longtime Democratic insider","url":"https://time.com/3516888/obama-ron-klain-ebola-czar/","keywords":["White House","ebola"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3243650babe96287/69876146f887dc8115e878f6/ron-klain-ebola-czar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3243650babe96287/69876146f887dc8115e878f6/ron-klain-ebola-czar.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Lawyer and politcal operative Ron Klain on May 13, 2008 in New York City.","caption":"Lawyer and politcal operative Ron Klain on May 13, 2008 in New York City.","creditText":"Andrew H. 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