‘No guidance and no leadership’: chaos in US health agencies after mass firings

On 1 April, thousands of workers at HHS and agencies like the CDC were let go, leaving those left to piece together the cuts and mourn the research that can't go forward

For the past two months, members of the Elon Musk-led department of government efficiency" (Doge) have stalked the halls of the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) Atlanta headquarters.

Several employees told the Guardian that if a Doge staffer walked through their offices and saw a badge at an untended workstation, its owner would be fired promptly. Firing someone for a security violation gave Doge an excuse to circumvent the defenses of civil service protection, or performance reviews, or seniority.