Bioterrorism chief Stewart Simonson taking heat

Published 7 December 2005

Simonson is on the losing end of this battle

Following Hurricane Katrina, some made a parlor game of scrutinizing the biographies of political appointees in search of Michael Brown look-alikes — people who clearly had no training for the substantive roles they filled. Whatever your take on such blood sport, it should be noted that Stewart Simonson, assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services, is increasingly finding himself at the losing end of such appraisals. Not helping is his comment during a homeland security subcommittee hearing on how the government would respond to a chemical or biological attack: “We’re learning as we go.”

-read Simonson’s official bio, or read opinion pieces on him here and here