WASHINGTON, Apr 28, 2009 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Key U.S. federal health and
emergency response jobs remain vacant as the Obama administration addresses its
response to the global spread of swine flu.
At the Health and Human Services Department, 15 top positions -- including the
secretary's slot and the full-time directorship at the Centers for Disease
Control in Atlanta -- remain unfilled, while 20 senior-level posts at the
Department of Homeland Security are occupied temporarily by career civil service
employees, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Five nominations, including
that of former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary, await
confirmation by the Senate.
"Having the top 20 unfilled is a significant problem for the long term," Michael
Leavitt, HHS secretary under President George W. Bush, told the Post. While
praising the work of the civil service employees, Leavitt said the Obama
administration "needs to give this priority. Vetted people need to be sent to
the Senate. And the Senate needs to respond."
An immediate pandemic outbreak would challenge a team operating without much
experience or a long-standing plan, Leavitt said. A National Pandemic Strategy
and Implementation Plan was developed in 2005 and 2006, after an avian flu
outbreak, but never fully tested.
The federal government's response "is in no way hindered or hampered by not
having a permanent secretary at HHS right now," White House Press Secretary
Robert Gibbs said Monday during a news briefing. "We feel confident with the
team that is there now."
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