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Government United States Politics

Former Labradoodle Breeder Was Tapped To Lead US Pandemic Task Force (reuters.com) 175

Aram Roston and Marisa Taylor, reporting for Reuters: On January 21, the day the first U.S. case of coronavirus was reported, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services appeared on Fox News to report the latest on the disease as it ravaged China. Alex Azar, a 52-year-old lawyer and former drug industry executive, assured Americans the U.S. government was prepared. "We developed a diagnostic test at the CDC, so we can confirm if somebody has this," Azar said. "We will be spreading that diagnostic around the country so that we are able to do rapid testing on site." While coronavirus in Wuhan, China, was "potentially serious," Azar assured viewers in America, it "was one for which we have a playbook." Azar's initial comments misfired on two fronts. Like many U.S. officials, from President Donald Trump on down, he underestimated the pandemic's severity. He also overestimated his agency's preparedness.

As is now widely known, two agencies Azar oversaw as HHS secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, wouldn't come up with viable tests for five and half weeks, even as other countries and the World Health Organization had already prepared their own. Shortly after his televised comments, Azar tapped a trusted aide with minimal public health experience to lead the agency's day-to-day response to COVID-19. The aide, Brian Harrison, had joined the department after running a dog-breeding business for six years. Five sources say some officials in the White House derisively called him "the dog breeder." Azar's optimistic public pronouncement and choice of an inexperienced manager are emblematic of his agency's oft-troubled response to the crisis. His HHS is a behemoth department, overseeing almost every federal public health agency in the country, with a $1.3 trillion budget that exceeds the gross national product of most countries.

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Former Labradoodle Breeder Was Tapped To Lead US Pandemic Task Force

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  • by AlanObject ( 3603453 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @06:50PM (#59987144)

    Heckuva job.

    A crony got the job. A goodfella. That's what counts.

    Seriously, how do people still manage to go around defending this indefensible clusterf**k of an administration? And accuse anyone making even the slightest critique as carriers of TDS.

    • Re: (Score:1, Insightful)

      The better program managers I've worked with had barely passing familiarity with the technology I use. But they were awesome at coordinating tasks, identifying blockages between teams/individuals, and ensuring a smooth flow of information and forward momentum. You don't have to understand the technology of a problem to be able to coordinate the team solving the problem.
      • by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:09PM (#59987238)

        Great. Now was this dog breeder hired on the basis on his expertise in leading teams and complicated projects, or was he hired because he gave some money to a campaign and shows personal loyalty to the president? Sure, you've seen some good program managers, and how many of those were nephews of the CEO who didn't go through an interview process?

        • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

          Yes, he was [wikipedia.org]. But better a hit piece on the Trump Administration than the truth, right? Not as exciting to say "Brian Harrison, seasoned Government official who went to run his own business for a few years before returning to be Chief of Staff of the DHHHS", is it?
          • Looks like he has HHS experience but almost no public health experience.

            https://www.hhs.gov/about/lead... [hhs.gov]

            I'm not willing to condemn him no the basis of being a labradoodle breeder.

            But if Trump picked him-it's more likely that he's a suckup yes man than that he's competent.

            It's okay. I've got a freezer - 6 months food- ppe- home defense- and once all you conservatives get thru dying off from drinking the kool-aid, I'll be ready to come back out and vote blue no matter who in november.

            No personal opinion on

        • He's a dog breeder, he has all the necessary qualifications to work for Trump: Sits up, begs, wags his tail, and rolls over when told to.
      • by HiThere ( 15173 )

        That what the managerial schools claim. Sometimes it works. Often, though, things they don't understand will cause problems. They need lots of competent subordinates who aren't afraid to tell them about problems. The manager isn't equipped to understand problems, and has to take on faith that the proper action is the one recommended.

      • That is not this guy (Score:4, Informative)

        by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:46PM (#59987398)
        if it was then the States wouldn't be fighting among themselves for PPE. We can objectively see that a terrible job is being done.

        And you can google his background. He bounces around cushy federal jobs and lobbyist positions. He was a pharma lobbyist for fucks sake. We put the fox in charge of the hen house, and it wasn't even a very smart fox.
      • The better program managers I've worked with had barely passing familiarity with the technology I use. But they were awesome at coordinating tasks, identifying blockages between teams/individuals, and ensuring a smooth flow of information and forward momentum. You don't have to understand the technology of a problem to be able to coordinate the team solving the problem.

        Yes, they didn't have much familiarity with the technology. But I bet they had *loads* of experience with the *business* they were in. At least, that's my experience with competent managers. And the best ones did their utmost to get familiarized with the relevant aspects of the technology they had to make decisions on. Any sign of that here?

      • by znrt ( 2424692 )

        The better program managers I've worked with had barely passing familiarity with the technology I use. But they were awesome at coordinating tasks, identifying blockages between teams/individuals, and ensuring a smooth flow of information and forward momentum ...

        you had me until you mentioned "forward momentum" ... from that point on you made as little sense as all the bad managers i've met in my professional life did, which were the vast majority of them. pure fluff.

      • by Ichijo ( 607641 )

        The better program managers I've worked with had barely passing familiarity with the technology I use.

        Did they also have "minimal experience" managing projects in your technical field? No? Then your analogy is not useful. Worse, it's a distraction.

        All the better program managers I've worked with understood the issues at NO MORE than one level of abstraction higher than me. Plus they understood the issues at that level across many different fields of expertise such that they had both breadth and depth of te

    • by Darinbob ( 1142669 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:07PM (#59987226)

      I always liked the British system where they have a set of seasoned long term professionals who know how to get things done, and the elected officials going through the revolving door with political whims have to work extra hard to try and screw it all up, they can't just write memos and turn the state 180 degrees. In the States some call this "the deep state" with implications that if elected officials do not have dictatorial powers then democracy is being subverted.

      Ok, maybe they whine today that they can't just screw it all up like they want to, but they were certainly very happy about it that Obama was thwarted in the same way. They forget that if you give the executive immense power today then some day an executive from a different party will have that same power. Short sighted naivete.

    • to read any of the comments or view the story. A few trolls will just to stir up Trouble, but the way most Trump supporters continue supporting him is by avoiding negative coverage of him. When Trump does something horrible like this they head back to Fox News, OOAN and the like to purge it from their memory.

      Go watch the Netflix special "The Brainwashing of My Dad" for a real world example.
      • Followed by Trump admitting he said it, but it was a joke.

        So then it becomes "It's an ingenious troll of the left," 3D chess, etc.

        Stragglers scramble to catch up before they're attacked for spreading fake news that was gospel truth the day before. Even governors aren't immune. [cnn.com] They all must keep up with an ever-shifting master narrative or risk being thrown under the bus. It sounds annoying, but it's probably easier than thinking. I'm sure their thoughts are unsettling.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Seriously, how do people still manage to go around defending this indefensible clusterf**k of an administration?

      Simple: They have defended it so much in the past, they are now firmly part of the evil. They just cannot admit that to themselves. Hence they continue to defend their bad choice, no matter what, probably in some vain hope that it will not turn out so bad in the end. From what I see it is getting even worse though.

    • Trump just loves people who know "Sit", "Stay", "Roll over".... now fetch some of that money...who's a good boy...sit...
    • Seriously, how do people still manage to go around defending this indefensible clusterf**k of an administration? And accuse anyone making even the slightest critique as carriers of TDS.

      The answer to both of these is: because it's once again fake news. It's yet another made-up story.

      https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2020/04/23/no-trump-did-not-put-a-labradoodle-breeder-in-charge-of-covid-19-response/

      He’s served three administrations in high level posts at HHS, the White House and the Pentagon.

      He was never in charge of pandemic containment strategy.

  • Well, now we know who the Republicans are going to throw under the bus.

    Congratulations Brian Harrison on your "Heck of a job, Brownie" award.

    • So you think that's the one who's gonna be fired from The Administration game show this week?

      Say, I think they should start adding some sort of phone-in viewer participation game.

  • by JoeyRox ( 2711699 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:00PM (#59987194)
    So hiring a former Labradoodle breeder just might fix the COVID-19 testing bandwidth issues we have. I've already started stocking up on Milk-bones to get at the head of the testing line.
    • Aren't you afraid that having Milk-bones on you will skew the dog's response and give you a false reading?

  • by Frank Burly ( 4247955 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:01PM (#59987198)

    He was hired because he said he had done lab work!

    (Not my joke, but I posted it here so I will take responsibility--unlike some people.

    • It kinda reminds me of the story how Che Guevara became finance minister of Cuba.

  • He's had the HHS job before and experience in the drug industry. You can argue whether he's good but I don't know what being a dog breeder has to do with anything. Is this headline trying to imply thats the only thing he's done?
    • by Jarwulf ( 530523 )
      Correction that was Azar, but Harrison's main job is still in healthcare and government the dog breeding is a side gig.
    • For several years, he wasn't even allowed to cross the street, and for more than a decade he was repeatedly subject to administrative actions for violating rules at organizations where he worked. These are the kinds of people this administration puts in high office!

  • By all accounts of those who’ve worked with him, Harrison is a serious public servant with deep experience. And he was never in charge of pandemic containment strategy.

    He was, rather, assigned a typical role for a cabinet secretary’s chief of staff, serving as aide de camp on a task force run by the boss himself — until Trump stripped that job from Azar and assigned the responsibility to Vice President Mike Pence.

    https://www.dallasnews.com/new... [dallasnews.com]

  • "Aram Roston and Marisa Taylor" follow along on some of their other writings.

    "Five sources say some officials" ooo wow so this is fact?

    Just my 2 cents ;)
  • Yes, Brian Harrison was a dog breeder. But he did have a few low level government jobs in the Bush Adminstiration; his other private sector experience was a few years in public relations.

    I think it's reasonable to say he doesn't have enough experience to be entrusted with such a complex and critical job, but it's not as if they picked someone whose *only* experience was running a dog breeding operation.

  • by Orgasmatron ( 8103 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @07:44PM (#59987384)

    As best I can tell, the contractor who was mass producing the reagents had a problem during production. And genetics is hard - there are going to be problems now and then, so unless more information has come out since I last looked into this, I don't know that it really makes sense to blame the contractor either.

    The real problem with the testing is that our FDA regulations had created a monoculture in testing. We have many genetics labs capable of making PCR tests, and several did. But only the CDC lab was familiar with the process for getting approval, and similarly the FDA approvulators were only familiar with the way one lab worked - the CDC lab.

    This problem has been lurking since the system was created in 2005. Like a microscopic crack in a jet engine turbine blade, the system works until it doesn't, allowing the flaw to escape attention and repair. And then one day, the engine disassembles itself and President Trump and his delegates have to step in to get the FDA career staff working with other labs.

    So, not-news for not-nerds, stuff that doesn't matter at all. But keep trying to gaslight guys.

    • And genetics is hard - there are going to be problems now and then

      It's not that hard to not contaminate your test with the virus you are testing for. Especially since the virus isn't actually in the test (it's antisense RNA is).

      We have many genetics labs capable of making PCR tests, and several did. But only the CDC lab was familiar with the process for getting approval

      No. All of those labs routinely get FDA approval for their tests and other products. That's a big part of their regular business. If they didn't know how to navigate the FDA, they'd have gone out of business long ago.

      This was a CDC fuck-up, by giving it to a contractor that fucked up.

  • by RoccamOccam ( 953524 ) on Friday April 24, 2020 @09:15PM (#59987618)
    From https://www.dallasnews.com/new... [dallasnews.com] Dallas Morning News

    Headline: No, Trump did not put a Labradoodle breeder in charge of COVID-19 response

    WASHINGTON — No, the Trump administration did not put a professional dog breeder from Dallas in charge of COVID-19 response.

    Yes, the chief of staff at the Department of Health and Human Services briefly owned a family business raising Labradoodles. But he’s also served three administrations in high level posts at HHS, the White House and the Pentagon.

    Colleagues who hired Brian Harrison and served with him in government were appalled to see him disparaged Thursday as a mere “dog breeder,” as if Joe Exotic had catapulted from tiger king to head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    “This is so silly. He went home and worked in a family business,” said Jack Kalavritinos, who served with Harrison at HHS during the administrations of both George W. Bush and President Donald Trump, most recently as director for intergovernmental and external affairs, working on the opioid crisis and drug prices.

    “Brian was a no-brainer pick,” said another colleague, Michael Reilly, who hired Harrison for his first job at HHS under Bush. “His private sector experience is irrelevant .... He was a complete known commodity who had extensive experience.”

    • by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday April 25, 2020 @04:52AM (#59988542)

      You left out the bit of having absolutely no medical training, no medical qualification, no management qualification, and never being remotely in charge of disaster management in any capacity in the past.

      The labradoodle thing is a misdirect. This friend of the family is a horrible choice for the office in many ways including ways which count.

  • Positions within the current administration are some of the shortest lived / staffed positions in history.

    In all likelihood, he'll either resign or be fired in a month or two when the infection rates don't drop as
    fast as they hope and they need a designated scape-goat to blame.

    Seriously, think about it.

    If you were the absolute expert in your field and you were asked by what I like to refer to as " The
    Revolving Door Administration ", would you agree to a job offer ? Knowing you're going to simply
    be a targ

  • It seems the left is ignoring his long service within the government leading departments including within HHS. In earlier days he was ALSO an amateur dog breeder. I guess people who are on Trump's team are not allowed to have hobbies? Perhaps before going ballistic with criticism you owe it to yourself to learn more of the facts surrounding this long time public servant. But that would require being honest with yourselves which always hurts, which ever side of the fence you are on.
    {^_^}

  • And there you go! A lab expert!

Luck, that's when preparation and opportunity meet. -- P.E. Trudeau

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