Key posts vacant as U.S. battles swine flu

WASHINGTON, April 28 (UPI) -- Key U.S. federal health and emergency response jobs remain vacant as the Obama administration addresses its response to the global spread of swine flu.

At the Health and Human Services Department, 15 top positions -- including the secretary's slot and the full-time directorship at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta -- remain unfilled, while 20 senior-level posts at the Department of Homeland Security are occupied temporarily by career civil service employees, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. Five nominations, including that of former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as HHS secretary, await confirmation by the Senate.

"Having the top 20 unfilled is a significant problem for the long term," Michael Leavitt, HHS secretary under President George W. Bush, told the Post. While praising the work of the civil service employees, Leavitt said the Obama administration "needs to give this priority. Vetted people need to be sent to the Senate. And the Senate needs to respond."

An immediate pandemic outbreak would challenge a team operating without much experience or a long-standing plan, Leavitt said. A National Pandemic Strategy and Implementation Plan was developed in 2005 and 2006, after an avian flu outbreak, but never fully tested.

The federal government's response "is in no way hindered or hampered by not having a permanent secretary at HHS right now," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday during a news briefing. "We feel confident with the team that is there now."