MaddowBlog-Whether the CDC will survive RFK Jr.'s tenure is an open question

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The fact that bullet-pocked windows remain in place at the agency’s headquarters makes it difficult to be optimistic about the CDC’s future.

The fact that the CDC’s bullet-pocked windows remain in place, seven months after a shooting, is ridiculous. It's also emblematic of a larger problem:

RFK Jr has created an existential crisis at the agency, and its future is far from certain. tinyurl.com/3f55pccw

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-30T21:07:35.062Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/whether-the-cdc-will-survive-rfk-jr-s-tenure-is-an-open-question

Last August, a gunman opened fire in Atlanta near the campuses of both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University, killing a police officer and shooting many windows at the CDC headquarters. The suspect, who did not survive the assault, was reportedly fixated on the Covid-19 vaccine, blaming it for his health problems.....

For his part, RFK Jr. did condemn the shooting in Atlanta in a short message published to social media, but the Cabinet secretary waited until a day after the violence, and he posted his statement after posting images of himself fishing. (Donald Trump, meanwhile, failed to comment altogether on the shooting that left a police officer dead.)

As difficult as this might seem to believe, the CDC’s shot-up windows still haven’t been replaced. The Associated Press reported:

The federal government has not yet replaced the bullet-pocked windows that serve as a grim reminder of an attack at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention more than seven months ago, the agency’s acting chief acknowledged Wednesday.

CDC employees asked Dr. Jay Bhattacharya about the broken windows during a staff meeting, noting that the panes were papered over. ‘We’re working on that,’ Bhattacharya said, adding that it’s a priority.

.....To be sure, the problems are not altogether new. Last fall, nine former CDC chiefs, including Anne Schuchat, who served as an acting director during Trump’s first term, linked arms and wrote a joint op-ed, in which they characterized Kennedy’s work as a dangerous public menace. (The headline said, “We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health.”)

It was around this same time when it became common to see reports quoting CDC insiders referring to the agency in the past tense. The New York Times published a report with a headline and subhead that immediately generated some attention: “Will the C.D.C. Survive? Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s assault may have dealt lasting damage to the agency, experts fear, with harsh consequences for public health.”

Seven months later, existential questions about the CDC’s future remain unanswered, and the fact that bullet-pocked windows remain in place at the agency’s headquarters make it difficult to be optimistic.

[UTUSN]

1. K&R