Obama considering new official for Ebola

U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday that he will consider appointing a person to lead the government's Ebola response, which has been criticized after three people were diagnosed with the deadly disease on American soil.
Obama made the remarks at the end of a meeting with his national security adviser Susan Rice, his assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism Lisa Monaco, his health secretary Sylvia Burwell, and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Tom Frieden.
"It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person, not because ... these folks have not been doing an outstanding job," Obama said, noting that Rice and Monaco have to deal with the Islamic State and Burwell and Frieden have to contend with the upcoming flu season.
"So, it may make sense for us to have one person, in part just so that after this initial surge of activity, we can have a more regular process," he said.
With regard to the issue of a travel ban for Ebola-stricken African countries, Obama said that he did not have "a philosophical objection." But after discussions with experts, he said, his understanding is that a travel ban is less effective than the measures currently in place, including screening passengers from West Africa.
"If we institute a travel ban ... history shows that there's a likelihood of increased avoidance," he said, adding people may engage in "broken travel," essentially breaking up their trips so they can hide where they are coming from.
"As a result, we may end up getting less information about who has the disease ... we could end up having more cases rather than less."
Earlier in the day, Obama authorized the Defense Department to call up reserve troops to help combat the spread of Ebola in West Africa.
"The most important thing that I can do for keeping the American people safe is for us to be able to deal with Ebola at the source," he said. "We have seen some progress in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, but we haven't seen enough. We have got more work to do."