Devex: Former U.S. disaster chief says White House ‘credibility’ key to international crisis response
“It tends not to get a lot of attention, but ‘process management’ at the White House — and a strong National Security Council staff — are what allow the U.S. government to lead effective international response efforts when unforeseen disasters erupt in unexpected places, according to Jeremy Konyndyk, the former director of the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. … At the peak of the Ebola virus outbreak, for example, the U.S. government was supporting more than 10,000 people on the ground — many of them humanitarian workers — responding to the crisis. The White House mobilized its foreign disaster team to pull in different parts of the U.S. government and align them under a common operational framework. … Konyndyk also noted that in disaster response efforts such as the Ebola outbreak, the credibility of the U.S. government — and of the U.S. president — is paramount…” (Igoe, 2/16).