Robert Phelps
Colonel Robert Phelps is a character that appears in Season 1 of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan. He is the commander of the United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).
Biography
In 2018, Phelps was the commander of USAMRIID. After Dr. Cathy Mueller, a renown Epidemiologist who was successful in leading the containment of an Ebola strain known as EVD-27 in western Africa, had discovered a Liberian man named Samuel Edeke was infected with EVD-27, Phelps called for a meeting with Mueller at USAMRIID headquarters at Fort Detrick, Maryland. During the meeting, Phelps asked Mueller what treatment options the CDC would have due to EVD-27 being resistant to existing vaccines. Mueller stated that like influenza, the virus mutates rapidly, meaning that there is currently no effective treatment.
CIA officers Jack Ryan and James Greer then entered the meeting. Phelps introduced them and gave Greer the go-ahead to speak. Greer showed Mueller a surveillance photo of Mousa bin Suleiman from Roberts Airport six months prior and Ryan told her that the body she had reported stolen from the EVD-27 graveyard was believed to have been stolen by Suleiman and his brother and taken by private plane to Azerbaijan. They then asked Mueller if it was possible to weaponize Ebola. Mueller stated that Ebola is transmitted through bodily fluids and that oxygen is hazardous to the virus. Despite this, she confirmed that while a delivery system for the virus would be problem, it was indeed possible to weaponize it. This news shocked Phelps and his fellow colleagues in the room.
Appearances
- The Boy (First appearance)