Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on Deputy National Security Advisor Antony Blinken’s Travel to Iraq

Deputy National Security Advisor Antony Blinken visited Baghdad, Dohuk, and Erbil from October 13-16 to meet with senior Iraqi officials and U.S. Embassy and Consulate staff to discuss the latest political and security developments in Iraq and the region.  In his meetings, Mr. Blinken emphasized the United States' continued support for the Iraqi government and security services in safeguarding a unified and federal Iraq while combating our common enemy, ISIL. 
 
The Deputy National Security Advisor’s meetings in Baghdad included discussions with President Fuad Masum and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Council of Representatives Speaker Salim al-Jabouri, Foreign Minister Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari, National Security Advisor Falah al-Fayyad, Minister of Oil Adil Abd al-Mahdi, Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq leader Ammar al-Hakim, as well as with other political, security, and economic officials.  In Dohuk, Mr. Blinken met with the Iraqi Kurdistan Region President Masoud Barzani, while in Erbil he met with Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani and Deputy Prime Minister Qubad Talabani.  He also received a briefing from UN officials on the humanitarian situation in Iraq, including assistance to displaced people and refugees.
 
Mr. Blinken’s comprehensive discussions in Iraq covered the full range of issues at stake in our cooperation with the Iraqi government and people in the fight against ISIL.  He expressed appreciation for the Government of Iraq’s progress in forming an inclusive government and in resolving political differences so that the strongest possible force is brought to bear against ISIL.

Letter to Congress -- Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to Significant Narcotics Traffickers Centered in Colombia

TEXT OF A LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
TO THE SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE

October 16, 2014

Dear Mr. Speaker: (Dear Mr. President:)

Section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act, 50 U.S.C. 1622(d), provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the President publishes in the Federal Register and transmits to the Congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. In accordance with this provision, I have sent to the Federal Register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia declared in Executive Order 12978 of October 21, 1995, is to continue in effect beyond October 21, 2014.

The circumstances that led to the declaration on October 21, 1995, of a national emergency have not been resolved. The actions of significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States and to cause an extreme level of violence, corruption, and harm in the United States and abroad. For this reason, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared in Executive Order 12978 with respect to significant narcotics traffickers centered in Colombia.

Sincerely,

BARACK OBAMA

Readout of the Cabinet Meeting on the Domestic Response to Ebola

The President met with members of his Cabinet today to discuss the current Ebola cases in the United States and the aggressive measures the Administration is taking in response. The President’s advisors provided him with an update on the status of the contact tracing of the healthcare worker diagnosed today, as well as a synopsis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) lessons learned from its ongoing investigation in Dallas. The President’s team detailed the new steps that have been taken—including the creation of CDC’s Ebola Response Teams, the surging of personnel and resources to Dallas, and an emphasis on increasing outreach and education to our nation’s healthcare workers as well as to the general public—to enhance our preparedness in Dallas and nationwide. The meeting also reviewed the additional domestic airport screening measures unveiled last week at New York’s Kennedy Airport and that will be implemented tomorrow at four additional airports: Newark’s Liberty, Chicago’s O’Hare, Atlanta’s Hartsfield, and northern Virginia’s Dulles. The President concluded the meeting by underscoring that the federal domestic response must move quickly and that contact tracing and monitoring must be undertaken more aggressively while we continue to tackle the virus at its source in West Africa.

Participants:

• The Vice President
• Chuck Hagel, Secretary of Defense
• Eric Holder, Attorney General
• Thomas Perez, Secretary of Labor
• Penny Pritzker, Secretary of Commerce
• Sylvia Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy
• Robert McDonald, Secretary of Veterans Affairs
• Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Homeland Security
• General Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Denis McDonough, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff
• Shaun Donovan, Director of the Office of Management and Budget
• Amb. Samantha Power, Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations
• John Podesta, Counselor to the President
• Susan Rice, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• Lisa Monaco, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
• Dr. Thomas Frieden, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (via secure video teleconference)
• Sarah Raskin, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury
• Nancy Powell, Special Coordinator-Ebola

Statement by NSC Spokesperson Bernadette Meehan on of the Display of the Ghazir Rug in the White House Visitor Center

On November 18-23, the White House Visitor Center will show an exhibit entitled: “Thank you to the United States: Three Gifts to Presidents in Gratitude for American Generosity Abroad.” Among those gifts displayed will be the Ghazir Rug.  The rug, also known as the “Armenian Orphan Rug,” was presented to President Coolidge in 1925 in recognition of the humanitarian assistance rendered by the American people to displaced Armenian orphans.

The rug is made to characterize the Garden of Eden, contains 4 million knots and took 18 months to complete.  The rug measures 11.5 feet by 19 feet and is in excellent condition. It was removed with President Coolidge’s personal possessions when he left office in 1929 but was returned to the White House as a gift from his family in 1982. The rug has only been displayed twice since then, and is a reminder of the close relationship between the people of Armenia and the United States.

The other two items in the exhibit are a Sèvres vase commissioned by “Young People of France” that is believed to have been sent to President Hoover in 1930 in appreciation for feeding children in post-World War I France, and Flowering Branches in Lucite which were sent to President Obama in recognition of American support of the people of Japan after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2010.

The White House Visitor Center is located at 1450 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. The center is free and open to the public from 7:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. daily.