More than half of the employees in CDC's Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases are contractors

[antigop]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97535322

The dependence on contractors in Iraq echoes what's happening at home — for instance, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than half the employees in the CDC'S Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases — which helps coordinate the nation's strategy to fight flu, AIDS and food-borne outbreaks — are corporate contractors, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office. The Department of Homeland Security depends so much on contractors, the GAO reports, that officials there have hired contractors to supervise other contractors.

[tblue]

1. I feel so much safer now.

NOT!

WE are ALL expendable!!!

Damn it all to hell!!!!!!!!! :mad:

[antigop]

2. "These contractors, they're not under the normal democratic accountability at all,"

"We've always thought of the government as motivated by a sense of service to the people," says Charles Tiefer, whom Congress appointed earlier this year to the new Commission on Wartime Contracting, which oversees Pentagon contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We're getting away from that."

Tiefer says some government employees do a bad job, and some contractors do a great job. But he says federal workers, at least, have to swear an oath to defend the Constitution, just like soldiers do. Not contractors.

"These contractors, they're not under the normal democratic accountability at all," he says. "Contractors are motivated by the dollar."

[tblue]

3. Of course! Obama better put an end to this the minute he takes office.

[OhioChick]

5. Let's hope.

This is insane.

[antigop]

4. Want to know what programs are under the Coordinating Center for Infectious Diseases (CCID)?

http://www.cdc.gov/about/organization/ccid.htm

CCID's new structure now includes the following programs:

* National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) is an interdisciplinary immunization program that brings together vaccine-preventable disease science and research with immunization program activities.
* National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (NCZVED) provides national and international scientific and programmatic leadership addressing zoonotic, vector-borne, foodborne, waterborne, mycotic, and related infections to identify, investigate, diagnose, treat, and prevent these diseases.
* National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHHSTP) integrates epidemiology, laboratory science, and intervention and prevention initiatives related to a broad range of STDs to enhance opportunities to develop and implement collaborative public health interventions with shared at-risk populations.
* National Center for Preparedness, Detection, and Control of Infectious Diseases (NCPDCID) focuses on improving preparedness and response capacity for new and complex infectious disease outbreaks, and will manage and coordinate emerging infectious diseases, integrate laboratory groups, and facilitate increased quality and capacity in clinical laboratories.

How many contractors in each of these programs?

[MadMaddie]

6. Another vital Government Organization destroyed by the *

Administration.

Obama has so much work to do.....sigh!