I ran the White House pandemic office. Trump closed it.

The federal government is moving too slowly, due to a lack of leadership.

Perspective by Beth Cameron

Beth Cameron is vice president for global biological policy and programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative. She previously served as the senior director for global health security and biodefense on the White House National Security Council.

March 13, 2020 at 9:32 a.m. EDT

President Trump in the Oval Office on Thursday. His White House eliminated a National Security Council office that focused on pandemics. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

When President Trump took office in 2017, the White House’s National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense survived the transition intact. Its mission was the same as when I was asked to lead the office, established after the Ebola epidemic of 2014: to do everything possible within the vast powers and resources of the U.S. government to prepare for the next disease outbreak and prevent it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic.