White House staff have carried out a set of tests to assess its preparedness for what they warn is an inevitable bird flu pandemic.
The four-hour tabletop drill, was say officials, designed to assess the level of federal preparedness for a possible outbreak of bird flu or another deadly virus.
Top Bush aides including cabinet secretaries, military leaders and other top officials took part and according to federal agencies they did quite well; no details have been offered than that.
Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt says the exercise was about being prepared for what will inevitably come.
Other than to say that it was clear that state and local governments would have to assume a leading role, the White House has refused to divulge any details about the exercise and it's results.
White House homeland security adviser Fran Townsend says the federal agencies that took part in the exercise did quite well,and though currently there is no evidence that a pandemic flu in the country is imminent they have been warned, and the time to prepare for that pandemic is now.
The tests have happened a day after a Thai boy became the 70th person to die of bird flu.
The virus usually strikes those in close contact with infected fowl or their droppings, and experts fear the deadly virus, known as H5N1, will mutate into a form that can easily infect and pass between people, causing a pandemic.
The HHS has projected that in a pandemic 92 million Americans will become sick and that as many as 2 million will die.
Schools will close, businesses will be disrupted and essential services may break down.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy says the drill was conducted in offices next to the White House and approximately 20 officials took part, including Townsend, Leavitt, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Marine Corps General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.