The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, once regarded as the world’s gold standard for public health and scientific research, has found itself at the epicenter of a storm—one marked not only by gunfire but also by a cascade of resignations, layoffs, and a growing sense of institutional crisis. The events of early September 2025, culminating in a deadly shooting and the abrupt departure of the CDC’s director, have cast a harsh light on the agency’s precarious state and the broader decline of American scientific leadership.
On September 5, 2025, panic erupted at the CDC’s Atlanta headquarters when Patrick White, 30, opened fire as employees were leaving for the day. The attack left DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose dead, shattered windows and doors, and sent CDC workers scrambling for cover. “My supervisor said, ‘Get down, it’s gunshots, get down’, so we just took cover and just waited,” recalled Tyler Rosser, a contractor at the CDC, in an interview with WSB-TV. The aftermath, he said, “looks like a movie scene. It looks like something from out of a movie, shattered windows, doors messed up.”
According to the CDC, the attack was targeted and related to COVID—a chilling reminder of the heated rhetoric and threats that have increasingly surrounded the agency in recent years. As police and emergency personnel responded, the CDC facility was left with significant damage, and the community was left reeling. For employees like Elizabeth Soda, the trauma was palpable. “It’s scary to think about going back into those buildings,” she told Channel 2’s Candace McCowan.
In the wake of the shooting, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited the CDC, surveying the damage and meeting with local officials, including DeKalb County’s police chief. His presence, however, sparked mixed emotions among staff. Soda voiced her frustration candidly: “I have a lot of anger at RFK. I do believe that as Secretary of Health he is spreading misinformation.” The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) later issued a statement affirming its support for CDC personnel and their families, promising, “Additional safety and security measures are being put in place ahead of their return.”
With the facility in turmoil, CDC workers were advised to telework for the remainder of the week, with some exceptions. An email from the CDC’s Office of Safety, Security, and Asset Management instructed employees to remove CDC vehicle decals—a small but telling sign of the heightened security concerns now facing the agency. Outside the CDC, a memorial for Officer Rose continued to grow, as colleagues and community members paid their respects, many with tears in their eyes.
But the shooting was only the latest—and most violent—manifestation of a deeper crisis. Just days earlier, at the end of August, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that Dr. Susan Monarez was “no longer director” of the CDC. Monarez, who had been in office for only a month, reportedly clashed with Secretary Kennedy over vaccine policy. Her abrupt departure was the latest in a string of high-profile exits from the agency.
Four senior CDC staff—the chief medical officer and the directors of the National Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases, the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, and the Office of Public Health Data—resigned in protest, citing Kennedy’s unwillingness to base policy decisions on sound scientific evidence. Their resignations followed the earlier departures of five senior staff in March, the layoff of 2,400 employees (fully one-fifth of the CDC’s workforce), and the removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel in April. In May, Kennedy ended recommendations that healthy children and pregnant women should receive COVID vaccines, a move that drew sharp criticism from public health experts.
“It feels like the CDC is over,” one departing scientist declared, according to Nexstar Media, capturing the sense of despair and disillusionment that has taken hold among many at the agency. Local 2883, the CDC employee union, said the shooting “compounds months of mistreatment” of staff—a sentiment echoed by many who have watched the agency’s reputation and morale erode.
The crisis at the CDC is part of a broader trend affecting America’s scientific establishment. Across the federal government, the Trump administration’s prioritization of partisan politics over scientific expertise is undermining research and rolling back evidence-based policies, not just at the CDC but also at the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Energy.
Federal funding for research and development is at a 25-year low as a percentage of gross domestic product, according to reporting by Nexstar Media. This year, the National Science Foundation eliminated 1,669 grants worth $1.5 billion, and the National Institutes of Health terminated 2,482 grants—some for vaccine development and cancer treatments—worth $8.7 billion. The 2026 federal budget contains the largest reductions in decades. As a result, job openings in STEM fields at research universities are projected to decline by 20 percent in 2026, and grants to early career researchers are expected to plummet by 78 percent.
This funding crunch is fueling a “brain drain” as American scientists contemplate leaving the country for more stable and supportive environments abroad. A poll by Nature magazine found that three-quarters of U.S. scientists would consider relocating. Other countries are eager to welcome them. The European Union’s “Choose Europe” campaign has allocated €500 million to attract scientific talent, while Australia’s “Global Talent Attraction Program” and China’s long-running recruitment initiatives offer generous funding and opportunities. Nobel Laureate neuroscientist Ardem Patapoutian, for instance, received a 20-year funding offer from the Chinese government after his U.S. grant was frozen.
The exodus is being accelerated by new restrictions on international students and scholars, including the revocation of thousands of student visas, long delays in visa processing, and proposals to limit temporary student visas to four years—far less than the time needed to complete a doctorate. Temporary visa holders make up 39 percent of doctoral students and 54 percent of researchers in science, engineering, and health. The U.S. has long benefited from attracting the world’s brightest minds, many of whom have gone on to found billion-dollar companies or contribute to American innovation. Now, as one international student put it, “I probably wouldn’t come. I would invest my time in a place where there’s stability.”
Meanwhile, China is surging ahead, investing hundreds of billions of dollars in research and higher education and outpacing the U.S. in STEM graduates, patents, and publications. President of the National Academy of Scientists Marcia McNutt warned, “Once a nation falters in the race to be a ‘science powerhouse,’ you never fully recover. You might accelerate back to 60, but you can’t make up for those years when you were at a standstill while the competition was racing ahead.”
For the CDC and for American science more broadly, the events of September 2025 are more than a tragedy—they are a signal that the nation’s preeminence in science and public health is at risk. As memorials grow and employees reflect on what has been lost, it is clear that rebuilding trust, stability, and scientific integrity will be a long and difficult road.
