Washington, September 16 (RHC)-- The United States announced Tuesday it will send 3,000 military troops to help tackle the Ebola outbreak as part of a ramped-up plan, including a major deployment in Liberia, the country where the epidemic is spiraling out of control.

The U.S. response to the crisis, to be formally unveiled later by President Barack Obama, includes plans to establish a military control center for coordination, U.S. officials told reporters.

"The goal here is to search American expertise, including our military, logistics and command and control expertise, to try and control this outbreak at its source in West Africa," Lisa Monaco, Obama's White House counter-terrorism adviser, told MSNBC television on Tuesday ahead of the announcement.

The World Health Organization has said it needs foreign medical teams with 500-600 experts as well as at least 10,000 local health workers. Observers said it was ironic that the White House counter-terrorism adviser would announce the sending of U.S. military troops, when what are needed most to fight a disease are doctors and medical personnel.

So far, only Cuba and China have said they will send medical staff to Sierra Leone. Cuba will deploy 165 people in October while China is sending a mobile laboratory with 59 staff to speed up testing for the disease. It already has 115 staff and a Chinese-funded hospital in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone.