Nation’s Top Emergency-Preparedness Agency Focused on Warfare Threats Over Pandemic

Planning priorities within U.S. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response left it unprepared for coronavirus crisis, current and former officials said

By Stephanie Armour, Alexandra Berzon and James V. Grimaldi of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"But his agency, which operates within the Department of Health and Human Services, also was supposed to plan for other medical crises, such as a pandemic—an explicit mandate from Congress when it was created 15 years ago. ASPR nevertheless became so mission-driven on possible military threats that it was caught off guard when the coronavirus hit, according to current and former government officials familiar with the planning.

Initial shipments of a coronavirus treatment went to hospitals that didn’t need it, hospital executives said. A decision to repatriate infected cruise-ship passengers to the U.S. led to a standoff with U.S. public-health officials who said it was too risky. ASPR had spent hundreds of millions of dollars filling the U.S. Strategic National Stockpile with drugs for anthrax and smallpox. Meanwhile, federal officials said, supplies of personal protective equipment for health workers, such as masks, had dwindled."

"Under federal law, ASPR is the lead operational and coordinating body for public-health emergencies. Federal plans designate ASPR—which had a budget of $2.6 billion for fiscal 2020—as the agency to oversee all health-related responses, such as coordinating with impacted hospitals."

"A confidential report prepared a year earlier by a consulting firm hired by ASPR, which was viewed by The Wall Street Journal, concluded that the agency was “drastically” underfunding medical measures to counter pandemics"

"As the pandemic unfolded this year, Dr. Kadlec fumbled some key decisions in the response, according to government officials. Following a staff request for a disaster-leadership meeting, Dr. Kadlec wrote on Jan. 18 that he was “not sure if that is a time sensitive urgency.”

In a March 19 email, White House economic adviser Peter Navarro criticized Dr. Kadlec for failing to put someone in charge of handling contracts. “I cannot have these kind of bullshit delays at HHS,” Mr. Navarro wrote to Dr. Kadlec. “Your shop is now officially a bottleneck.”"