WASHINGTON — President Obama will announce Wednesday that he is withdrawing almost all the American troops who were sent to West Africa to help contain the spread of the Ebola virus, administration officials said Tuesday.
He will also outline new steps aimed at eradicating the disease now that the crisis has eased, said the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly until the moves are announced.
All but 100 of the 3,000 American military service members deployed to fight the deadly disease will return home by the end of April, the officials said. The president will make the announcement at a White House ceremony where he will meet with six of the eight American Ebola survivors — including the two Dallas nurses and the New York doctor — as well as soldiers, civilians, health care workers and philanthropists who have contributed to the Ebola efforts since the epidemic began last year, the officials said.
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About 1,150 people are being tracked, and Mr. Klain gets daily updates.
The administration has yet to exhaust the $750 million in Pentagon financing that was transferred for use in humanitarian efforts in October to pay for the Ebola deployment, an administration official said. Initial plans called for 4,000 troops in West Africa, but American military officials said in November that the number could be reduced as infections slowed.
The first of the troops returned to the United States in December, and 1,500 have come home since, the officials said.
