Napolitano rips Ebola travel ban

Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano blasted Congress for pulling an official away from dealing with Ebola to testify at a hearing last week. 

“In the middle of a crisis, pulling Dr. Frieden away from the work he needs to do so Congress members could all make their little press statements — it was shameful,” Napolitano told The Huffington Post. 

{mosads}Dr. Tom Frieden, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), faced scrutiny from both sides of the aisle at a hearing on Thursday. 

Napolitano also criticized calls for a travel ban from affected countries in West Africa. 

“It was outrageous to drag the head of the CDC so that they can make very partisan comments and tell him to do something that makes no sense,” she said, referring to the ban.

Napolitano was secretary for the first four years of the Obama administration, before leaving to become president of the University of California system. 

She related the Ebola scare to concerns over H1N1, or swine flu, when she was in office in 2009, saying there were the same calls for bans.

“We had the same calls,” she said. “‘Close the border. Close the airports. Close the schools.’

“I resisted that and said it doesn’t make any sense at all,” she added. “I said, ‘Look, let’s take a deep breath. Let’s understand the problem.’”

She said the U.S. should increase aid to the affected West African countries and take steps to identify sick travelers.