In an unprecedented act of public defiance, nine former directors of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have issued a scathing rebuke of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., accusing him of a “war on science” that is “endangering every American’s health.” The condemnation came in a guest essay published by The New York Times, adding fuel to a growing crisis of confidence in the nation’s public health institutions.
The group of nine former directors and acting chiefs, who served under both Republican and Democratic presidents, wrote that Kennedy’s leadership has been “unlike anything our country has ever experienced.” The essay points to Kennedy’s actions since taking office, including the mass firings of experienced public health staff, a sudden halt to federally funded mRNA vaccine research, and the replacement of scientific experts with “unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views.”
The open letter comes days after the firing of CDC Director Susan Monarez, a longtime government scientist who had reportedly clashed with Kennedy over his directives to “rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives.” Monarez’s ouster, which was followed by a wave of resignations among senior CDC officials, was described by her lawyers as an illegal dismissal.
“We are alarmed by Mr. Kennedy’s focus on unproven ‘treatments’ while downplaying vaccines and cancelling medical research,” the former directors wrote. “These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a CDC director. Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary’s demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities.”
The signers of the essay, which include former directors Tom Frieden, Julie Gerberding, and Rochelle Walensky, rarely make such public statements. Their unified voice—representing a consensus of scientific expertise across political divides—is a direct challenge to the Trump administration and its new approach to public health.
The White House has defended Kennedy, stating he is “strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases.” But for the former CDC leaders, the stakes are too high. They warned that Kennedy’s leadership has left the agency “hurting badly” and unable to fulfill its core mission of protecting Americans from health threats, leaving the country vulnerable to both everyday health challenges and future pandemics.