Maju Varghese quits as White House Military Office head

New York, Jan 22  Indian-origin Maju Varghese is leaving his position as the director of the White House Military Office, according to a media report quoting him.

“Right now, it’s best for me and my family that I kind of just try to strike a little bit more of a balance,” CNN quoted Varghese explaining his decision to leave the White House.

“One thing I learned during two tours here is it’s a demanding place to work and it’s because the work is really important, and we throw all of ourselves into this,” he said of leaving after a gruelling year.

At the White House, his role included working with the military to ensure medical support, emergency medical services and presidential transportation, communications and organising official ceremonies and functions.

“These are complex movements, helicopters and planes and ground transportation and communications and supporting large events and global travel in and of itself is hard,” Varghese told CNN.

“Now you throw Covid in, you’ve got to think about all that comes with health and safety.”

He worked closely with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy when he was the chief operating officer of Biden’s election campaign, and later at the White House to ensure everyone’s health during the pandemic.

Murthy told CNN: “The way he would run meetings and to both chart out a path forward, reassure people, his calmness in the face of serious adversity and uncertainty — those are invaluable qualities that he brought to the operation.”

He had also worked for former President Barack Obama as a special assistant to the president and the deputy director of advance organising his travel in the US and abroad.

He was also the executive director of Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration � the swearing-in ceremonies and the festivities around it.

Varghese’s parents immigrated from Thiruvalla, Kerala, to the US, where he was born.

He is a lawyer by training.

CNN said that he did not reveal future plans.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)