tRrump dismantled NSC pandemic Unit -- I told this to a MAGAt -- the Response:

I would imagine even a colossal idiot could have figured that out.

Trump disbanded NSC pandemic unit that experts had praised
By DEB RIECHMANN March 14, 2020

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The NSC directorate for global health and security and bio-defense survived the transition from President Barack Obama to Trump in 2017.

Trump’s elimination of the office suggested, along with his proposed budget cuts for the CDC, that he did not see the threat of pandemics in the same way that many experts in the field did.

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It’s impossible to assess the impact of the 2018 decision to disband the unit, she said. {Beth} Cameron {Beth Cameron, the first director of the unit} noted that biological experts remain at the White House, but she says it’s clear that eliminating the office contributed to what she called a “sluggish domestic response.” She said that shortly before Trump took office, the unit was watching a rising number of cases in China of a deadly strain of the flu and a yellow fever outbreak in Angola.

“It’s unclear whether the decision to disband the directorate, which was made in May 2018, after John Bolton became national security adviser, was a tactical move to downgrade the issue or whether it was part of the White House’s interest in simplifying and shrinking the National Security Council staff,” Cameron says.

The NSC during the Obama administration grew to about 250 professionals, according to Trump’s current national security adviser, Robert O’Brien. The staff has been cut to about 110 or 115 staffers, he said.

More: https://apnews.com/ce014d94b64e98b7203b873e56f80e9a

CONCLUSIONS
There is disagreement over how to describe the changes at the NSC’s Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense in 2018. The departure of some members due to “streamlining” efforts under John Bolton is documented. The “pandemic response team” as a unit was largely disbanded.

VERDICT​
Partly false: The Trump administration disbanded the “pandemic response” team, but some of the team members were reassigned to roles that included pandemic response

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact checking work here .