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The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other key public health agencies are undergoing major leadership and structural changes following recent moves by the Trump administration and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The shake-up includes mass layoffs, agency leadership resignations, and public disputes over federal drug approval policies and vaccine regulation.

Earlier this week, HHS confirmed a reduction of 20,000 positions, accounting for approximately 24% of its workforce. As part of the restructuring, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reportedly placed five agency chiefs on administrative leave Monday.

Among those affected are leaders from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

These divisions have come under scrutiny for past research funding decisions, including grants related to Chinese labs and controversial gender research.

New NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, who was sworn in on Tuesday, informed staff in an internal email that the reorganization would require changes to the agency’s approach in areas such as communications, legislative affairs, procurement, and human resources.

He emphasized priorities like scientific transparency and academic freedom. NIH’s Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Amanda Fine, directed media outlets to file Freedom of Information Act requests to access the email, calling it an “official record.”

Nature reported that some of the NIH and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff were offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service.

NOTUS also confirmed that CDC officials had received similar transfer offers, particularly relocating away from the agency’s main office in Atlanta.

At the FDA, significant changes have drawn attention from the pharmaceutical industry.

Former FDA Commissioner Robert Califf, who served in the Obama and Biden administrations and later worked in a strategic role for Google’s parent company Alphabet, wrote on LinkedIn that the agency “as we’ve known it is finished.”

He warned that a loss of experienced leadership could affect drug development and public safety.

Califf’s departure follows that of other top officials. Peter Marks, Director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), resigned last week.

Politico and the Associated Press reported that Marks was given the option to resign or be dismissed by Secretary Kennedy, with the approval of newly installed FDA Commissioner Marty Makary.

Marks’ March 28 resignation letter, addressed to acting Commissioner Sara Brenner, cited concerns about misinformation but did not mention the ultimatum.

Makary, whose swearing-in date was not specified in the FDA’s April 1 press release, has already made staffing changes.

On Wednesday, Danish-American vaccine safety researcher Tracy Beth Hoeg confirmed she was hired as a special assistant to Makary. Hoeg has publicly criticized federal COVID-19 research and vaccine policies, including the U.S. childhood immunization schedule.

Marks’ departure coincided with a sharp decline in the stock prices of several biotech firms. Companies like Moderna, Beam Therapeutics, and Sarepta Therapeutics saw significant single-day losses, according to the Wall Street Journal.

These companies are heavily invested in mRNA and gene therapy technologies, areas that Marks previously supported.

University of California San Francisco epidemiologist Vinay Prasad criticized Marks’ leadership, citing repeated approval of COVID-19 boosters for infants without randomized clinical trial data.

Stanford professor George Tidmarsh echoed those concerns, accusing Marks of prioritizing pharmaceutical industry interests over patient safety.

Both cited controversial FDA decisions, including the approval of aducanumab, an Alzheimer’s drug that has since been withdrawn. Critics argue it was authorized without adequate evidence and based on disputed scientific theories.

Bhattacharya raised similar concerns about NIH’s approach to Alzheimer’s research during his Senate confirmation hearing.

The broader restructuring of public health agencies comes amid increased scrutiny of federal science policy, pharmaceutical regulation, and administrative spending.

The administration has also moved to reduce indirect-cost payments on federal research grants, a policy that critics say disproportionately benefits institutional administrators over researchers.

The White House has not yet provided an official timeline for the full implementation of the staffing changes. Additional reassignments, restructuring, and appointments are expected in the coming weeks.

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Image Credit: © Jack Gruber, Jack Gruber / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

During a tele-town hall with Wisconsin voters Monday night, Elon Musk revealed that an arrest is expected in connection to a major Social Security fraud operation involving the stolen identities of over 400,000 Americans.

The fraud, Musk alleged, is part of a broader effort that includes the exploitation of U.S. welfare systems and voter rolls by illegal immigrants.

Musk made the remarks while addressing voters in Wisconsin, responding to a question from a caller in Pulaski who asked whether the fraud uncovered in the Social Security system would be prosecuted.

“Yes. In fact, I believe someone is going to be arrested tomorrow,” Musk said.

“This is someone who actually stole 400,000 Social Security numbers and personal information from the Social Security database, and was selling Social Security numbers and all the identification information in order for people to basically steal money from Social Security.”

Musk said the method of fraud has far-reaching implications, including misuse of government benefits and unauthorized participation in the U.S. election system.

“This is a particular avenue of fraud for illegal immigrants and for voter fraud, because the main way that identification is established in the United States is via Social Security,” Musk explained.

“So if you compromise the Social Security system, you can basically get people de facto registered to vote, even if they’re not citizens, and to get a bunch of benefits and milk the system. It’s pretty insane.”

He criticized what he described as a deliberate effort to reshape the federal government’s infrastructure to support illegal immigration.

“The Democrats have basically taken every part of the government that could possibly be bent toward providing financial incentives for illegal immigrants to come to and remain in the United States—whether it’s Social Security, disability, Medicare, unemployment, even IRS refunds without any income,” Musk said.

“It’s wild.”

Musk also pointed to the misuse of emergency relief funds. “They diverted FEMA funds—which are supposed to be for helping Americans in distress from natural disasters—to pay for luxury hotels in New York for illegals to stay in. In fact, they’re still there.”

Antonio Gracias, a senior figure within the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also presented data during a previous town hall Sunday in Wisconsin that Musk referenced Monday night.

According to Gracias, the number of Social Security numbers issued to non-citizens surged from 270,000 in 2021 to over 2.1 million in 2024.

“We found 1.3 million of them already on Medicaid as an example,” Gracias said.

“On every benefit program we went through, we found groups from this particular group of people, 5.5 million people in those benefit programs. And then what was really, really disturbing us was why. We’re asking ourselves why. And so we actually just took a sample and looked at voter registration records, and we found people here registered to vote in this population.”

Gracias confirmed that the findings have been referred to federal investigators.

“We’ve referred them to prosecution at Homeland Security Investigations,” he said.

“That’s happening right now.”

Musk also addressed the larger issue of outdated federal infrastructure, calling it the “thorniest computer problem I’ve ever seen.”

He noted that many of the government’s systems are still running decades-old software, including long-delayed projects like the IRS modernization effort launched in 1995, which Musk criticized as being perpetually “five years away” from completion.

Officials have not publicly named the suspect allegedly behind the theft of 400,000 Social Security numbers.

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Fair Elections Wisconsin (FEW), a grassroots election integrity organization, has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Susan Crawford, the Democrat-backed candidate for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, demanding she stop making false claims about her Republican-backed opponent, Brad Schimel.

The letter, dated March 7, 2025, accuses Crawford of violating Wisconsin’s judicial code of conduct by spreading misleading statements during her campaign.

Crawford, a Dane County Circuit Court Judge, is running against Schimel, a Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge, in what has become a heated race for a seat on the state’s highest court.

The election has drawn significant attention due to its potential to shift the court’s balance, with the current majority consisting of four liberal justices to three conservatives.

The cease-and-desist letter, sent by FEW President Justin Gavery, claims that Crawford has made multiple false statements about Schimel’s record as Wisconsin’s Attorney General, particularly regarding the handling of rape kits and abortion laws.

Gavery states that Crawford’s actions are a violation of Wisconsin’s Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits judicial candidates from making false or misleading statements about their opponents.

“Judicial candidates, including incumbents and challengers, must refrain from making false, misleading, or deceptive statements,” Gavery’s letter reads.

“The Wisconsin Code of Judicial Conduct explicitly prohibits judicial candidates from knowingly misrepresenting any fact concerning themselves, their opponents, or matters relevant to the campaign.”

According to the letter, Crawford falsely claimed that Schimel ignored rape cases during his tenure as Attorney General and failed to address a backlog of thousands of untested rape kits.

Gavery refuted these claims, stating that when Schimel took office in 2015, there were approximately 6,000 untested kits.

By the end of his term, Schimel’s office had tested all the kits in need of testing, and a process was put in place to prevent future backlogs.

In addition to the claims about rape kits, Gavery also disputes Crawford’s assertion that Schimel supports the 1849 abortion law, which criminalizes most abortions in Wisconsin.

Gavery stated that Schimel has repeatedly stated he holds no position on abortion and believes such laws should be decided by public referendum or legislative action, rather than by judicial fiat.

Crawford’s campaign also allegedly misrepresented Schimel’s stance on voter suppression, accusing him of supporting such practices, which Gavery claims is untrue.

Furthermore, Crawford and her supporters have accused Schimel of being “soft on crime,” but Gavery refuted these claims, pointing to a specific case where Schimel’s office had sought a harsher sentence for a convicted child pornographer, but the judge did not impose the recommended sentence.

In the letter, Gavery demanded that Crawford cease and desist from making any further false statements and warned that failure to comply would result in further legal action.

“Please stop and desist from any further contact with others, public or private, until you have reviewed the above matters and you can verify that they are truthful statements. The people of Wisconsin deserve nothing less,” Gavery’s letter concluded.

As of Monday, March 10, 2025, Gavery stated that he had not received any response from Crawford’s campaign, and she continues to make the same false claims about Schimel.

The race between Schimel and Crawford has become one of the most expensive and closely watched elections in Wisconsin, with early voting already underway.

A recent poll by Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce showed the race to be deadlocked, with both candidates tied at 47% among likely voters.

The election is significant not only because of the potential to shift the ideological balance of the court, but also because of the large sums of money flowing into the race.

Election spending has already surpassed $81 million, with projections suggesting it could reach $100 million by Election Day.

Schimel has raised over $12 million, including $6 million from the Wisconsin Republican Party, while Crawford has raised over $25 million, including contributions from progressive figures such as billionaire George Soros and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.

As the race enters its final stretch, both candidates are working hard to secure votes, and the false claims made during the campaign will likely remain a point of contention.

With more than 345,000 voters already casting their ballots, nearly 48% more than at this point in the 2023 election, the stakes are high for both sides as they approach the April 1 election day.

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