Washington Blade - February 18, 2009
Lou Chibbaro Jr.

"We are actively interviewing to begin hiring for the Office of National AIDS Policy," said Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in an e-mail Wednesday to the AIDS advocacy group Housing Works.

Barnes' message to Housing Works, and a subsequent response to an inquiry from the Blade, marked the first known time the Obama administration has confirmed it plans to retain the White House AIDS office, known as ONAP.

The ONAP director's position was vacant during the last two years of the Bush administration, raising the question of whether Bush and his successor in the White House planned to abolish the office.

Barnes told the Blade that the Obama administration plans to retain the office and continue to have its director serve as a full participant on the White House Domestic Policy Council, which serves a key advisory role to the president on domestic issues, including AIDS.

Housing Works and other AIDS advocacy groups contacted the White House this week to inquire about an executive order President Obama issued Feb. 5 that appeared to downgrade the AIDS office director's position in the hierarchy of White House jobs.

The executive order, which was published in the Federal Register, changed the titles of certain White House staff members who serve on the Domestic Policy Council. One of the order's provisions called for "striking" the position of "AIDS Policy Coordinator" - the name used for the director of the Office of National AIDS Policy - and replacing it with the title of "Assistant to the President and Chief Technology Officer."

Christine Campbell, vice president for national advocacy and organizing for Housing Works, said the executive order's wording pertaining to the AIDS office prompted her to contact the White House to find out whether the order downgraded the AIDS office.

In her response to the Blade's inquiry, Barnes said the order uses "technical drafting language" to distinguish which White House staff positions are part of the Domestic Policy Council. She said the AIDS coordinator's post has and continues to remain a member of the Domestic Policy Council.

Barnes told Campbell that the White House also hopes to receive funds from a fiscal year 2009 appropriations bill pending before Congress that "would allow us to do additional hiring" at the White House AIDS office.

Campbell said Housing Works and other AIDS organizations believe the Office of National AIDS Policy is as important as ever and should remain a part of the White House.

"I think that it's absolutely needed because it's extremely important that we develop a national AIDS strategy," Campbell said.

"I think it has to be done in such a way that it is comprehensive and that there's really a pulling together of all the government departments," she said. "It's not just a public health issue. It's also a housing and jobs and veterans and justice issue. And all these different areas need to be working together."

Ronald Johnson, deputy executive director of AIDS Action, a national advocacy group for AIDS service providers, said Obama's decision to retain the White House AIDS office represents a change in policy from the Bush administration, which Johnson and other AIDS activists said neglected the domestic AIDS agenda.

"We feel that a revitalized Office of National AIDS Policy, with a new director, is critical to the development and implementation of a national AIDS strategy that President Obama has committed his administration to," Johnson said. "So we see this as a very positive sign that the domestic AIDS agenda is going to get the needed attention with a senior-level White House position."

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