Bush Names New AIDS Policy Director

On May 12, President Bush named acting AIDS adviser Carol J. Thompson as permanent head of the Office of National AIDS Policy, a position that has been open since former office director Joseph O'Neill was named deputy coordinator of the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator. Colleagues say Thompson, a former White House domestic policy adviser who has held the post on an interim basis since August, is passionate about AIDS issues and helped craft Bush's five-year, $15 billion global AIDS program. But critics note that the past two directors were both openly gay doctors, and Thompson is neither gay nor a physician. Cheryl Jacques, president of the gay-rights group Human Rights Campaign, calls the appointment 'meaningless' because the 'White House has made this position so irrelevant.'