Former directors of the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday rebuked Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his leadership at the agency and for his decision to fire its director, Susan Monarez.
In a New York Times op-ed, nine former CDC directors and acting directors — who have served under every administration since former President Carter — sounded the alarm about the changes Kennedy has made at the CDC, which they described as alarming.
“What Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has done to the C.D.C. and to our nation’s public health system over the past several months — culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as C.D.C. director days ago — is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced,” they wrote in the piece.
The former CDC leaders expressed concern about the “wide-ranging impact” of Kennedy’s decisions at the agency, from firing thousands of health workers, to canceling investments in medical research, to replacing experts on advisory committees, to ending support for global vaccination programs.
They expressed particular concern about Monarez’s ouster last week, which led to at least four other top CDC officials resigning from their posts, accusing the administration of weaponizing public health and applauding Monarez for standing up for science.
“When Secretary Kennedy administered the oath of office to Dr. Monarez on July 31, he called her ‘a public health expert with unimpeachable scientific credentials.’ But when she refused weeks later to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior C.D.C. staff members, he decided she was expendable,” they wrote in the piece.
“These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a C.D.C. director. Not even close,” they continued. “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 Hill reached out to HHS for comment about the op-ed.
The former CDC directors also applauded the agency’s staff “who continue to perform their jobs heroically in the face of the excruciating circumstances, saying, “Their ongoing dedication is a model for all of us.”
“But it’s clear that the agency is hurting badly. The loss of Dr. Monarez and other top leaders will make it far more difficult for C.D.C. to do what it has done for about 80 years, to work around the clock to protect Americans from threats to their lives and health,” they continued.
The group called on other sectors of government and public health to “rally to protect the health of every American,” including for Congress to increase its oversight authority, for state and local governments to increase funding gaps when possible, for philanthropy and the private sector to increase community investments and for the American people “to look out for one another.”
“The men and women who have joined C.D.C. across generations have done so not for prestige or power, but because they believe deeply in the call to service. They deserve an H.H.S. secretary who stands up for health, supports science and has their back. So, too, does our country,” they wrote.
Monarez’s ouster and the subsequent resignations of other CDC officials rocked the public health community and drew mixed reactions on Capitol Hill.
Kennedy and the White House have defended Monarez’s firing. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday the president has the “authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.”
“The president and Secretary Kennedy are committed to restoring trust and transparency and credibility to the CDC by ensuring their leadership and their decisions are more public-facing, more accountable, strengthening our public health system and restoring it to its core mission of protecting Americans from communicable diseases, investing in innovation to prevent, detect and respond to future threats,” Leavitt said during the briefing.
The op-ed was signed by William Foege, who served as director from 1977 to 1983; William Roper, who served as director from 1990 to 1993; David Satcher, who served as director from 1993 to 1998; Jeffrey Koplan, who served as director from 1998 to 2002; Richard Besser, who served as acting director in 2009; Tom Frieden, who served as director from 2009 to 2017; Anne Schuchat, who served as acting director in 2017 and 2018; Rochelle Walensky, who served as director from 2021 to 2023; and Mandy Cohen, who served as director from 2023 to 2025.
