‘Targets on Our Backs’: CDC Staffers Describe ‘Hostile’ Workplace to Politico

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

Per Congress’s government shutdown-ending deal, hundreds of previously fired CDC employees returned to work this week, with one telling Politico that, along with the “never-ending feeling that we have metaphorical targets on our backs, a lot of employees feel like they have literal targets on their backs,” in a report published Friday.

The eight current or recently fired staffers — most granted anonymity out of fear of retaliation — told Politico’s Sophie Gardner that after months of mass firings, retractions, re-firings, and high-level resignations, morale has collapsed under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr..

One employee described the internal mood as “dead man walking,” while another said, “Any time that we are asked to unexpectedly meet with senior politicals, we assume it’s to fire us… It’s basically a hostile work environment.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has repeatedly targeted the CDC with sweeping “reduction-in-force” notices, with three major rounds in February, April, and October. After each round, however, some workers were told their firing was a “mistake” and were asked to return.

“We know of people who have now received three RIF notices,” another CDC employee told Politico.

Staff also said they’ve seen a steep collapse in communication from leadership. Acting CDC Director Jim O’Neill has sent only one agency-wide email since starting the job in August, with one worker saying, “We’ve never heard the man even speak.”

Several insisted to Politico that the chaos at the agency is intentional. One staffer argued that Kennedy and his team “harbor personal animus toward CDC,” adding that his hostility “started well before the pandemic.” The CDC’s Amy Kirby added that “even if you’re working on an agency priority, they will still fire you.”

“It is heartbreaking,” concluded Kirby, who was leading a project to “centralize CDC disease surveillance data” when most of her team was fired in October. While those employees are now being reinstated, she emphasized they “don’t feel safe,” before adding, “I’m sad for our country that we don’t have CDC at its best.”

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