White House, Texas name officials to coordinate Dallas Ebola response

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and Texas Governor Rick Perry late on Friday named three officials who will help coordinate efforts to identify and monitor people who came into contact with three people diagnosed with the Ebola virus in Dallas, a White House official said. Perry has chosen W. Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, to coordinate state-level assets in the Dallas response, the official said. Kevin Hannes, an experienced federal officer with the Federal Emergency Management Agency who works in north Texas, has been named as Kidd's federal counterpart. The White House also will send Adrian Saenz, Obama's deputy director of intergovernmental affairs, to Dallas to serve as a liaison for Ron Klain, who Obama named as his overall Ebola coordinator on Friday. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Sandra Maler)