U.S. brands AIDS national security threat

http://newsnet.reuters.com/cgi-bin/basketview.cgi?b=rcom:general&s=nN30506712 By Lisa Richwine

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - The United States considers the spread of AIDS around the world a threat to national security and is working to win more funding to combat the disease abroad, the White House said on Sunday.

AIDS is so widespread in some countries that U.S. officials worry it could undermine economies, threaten military establishments and governments, and cause other regional problems, spokesmen for President Bill Clinton and his National Security Council said.

Vast numbers of AIDS infections "can very easily overwhelm a government and start to undo the careful progress you've made in other areas," National Security Council spokesman P.J. Crowley said in an interview. He said AIDS was "becoming more and more a part of the fabric of what constitutes a country's security."

The National Security Council is working with White House AIDS Policy Director Sandra Thurman to develop ways to address the epidemic better, White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said.

"We hope that if they are making it a more significant priority, we can bring to bear more of the sort of resources we need to fight back against the deadly scourge of that disease," Kennedy told reporters traveling with Clinton in Michigan.

The doubling to $254 million of budget requests to combat AIDS overseas and the creation earlier this year of a White House interagency working group are part of a new push to deal with the administration's concerns, Crowley said.

The effect of AIDS on national security has already been discussed by leaders at international conferences, Crowley said. He said Clinton would bring the issue up later this month at a meeting with European Union leaders in Portugal and at a meeting with Group of Eight leaders in July "to make sure we can marshal the kinds of resources ... to help countries confront the disease."

Africa and India are two areas causing U.S. officials particular concern, Crowley said. Sub-Saharan Africa has been hit especially hard. In South Africa alone, an estimated 4.2 million people, or nearly 10 percent of the population, are infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott, speaking on the television program "Fox News Sunday," said he did not agree that AIDS posed a threat to U.S. security.

"No. I guess this is just the president trying to make an appeal to certain groups, but, no, I don't view that as a national security (threat), not to our national security interests," Lott said.