CDC Director Addresses Staff After Gunman Attack

The newly appointed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, aimed to reassure employees on Tuesday about the continuation of their mission and the enhancement of safety measures following a gunman’s attack at the agency’s headquarters last Friday.

However, the message was given during an all-hands meeting that turned out to be quite brief and somewhat chaotic. Initially intended to last an hour, it concluded in just 13 minutes, prompting some staff members to question the effectiveness of the communication.

“This is a mess,” one employee expressed to STAT. The meeting started late, and there were reportedly technical difficulties that prevented some individuals from joining the call.

Although staff were informed that Jim O’Neill, deputy secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, was present, he did not speak during the meeting. Similarly, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has been criticized for his previous remarks against vaccines and public health workers, was absent.

Kennedy visited the campus on Monday, a day designated for employees to work from home. He faced backlash for posting photos of a salmon fishing trip in Alaska on social media just before expressing condolences for the police officer killed in the attack and his concern for CDC staff on his professional account.

A series of meetings took place on Monday to address the attack and security issues, but Tuesday’s meeting was Monarez’s first agency-wide address, which came in the shadow of the violent event. She announced that the CDC Foundation would begin fundraising for the family of the deceased officer, David Rose.

In her short comments, Monarez touched on the political controversies that have led some to distrust the CDC, referring to the incident as “an attack on our community … and in many ways the very mission we serve.”

“Misinformation can be dangerous,” she noted. “It can affect not just health but also trust. We need to rebuild that trust together.”

Monarez emphasized the importance of addressing challenges with “rational evidence-based discourse spoken with compassion and understanding,” stating that leadership would stem from such an approach.

Statements from HHS included spokesperson Andrew Nixon saying Kennedy condemned the attack and insisted on a “zero tolerance” policy for violence.

CDC’s acting chief operating officer, Christa Capozzola, was expected to speak but could not due to technical issues.

The meeting did not provide staff members a chance to express their frustrations or concerns. Reports indicated that the chat function for participants was disabled. However, Monarez encouraged employees to utilize the assistance program and seek support from colleagues and supervisors, reinforcing that “You are the heart of CDC. You are resourceful, resilient, and strong.”

In a disturbing incident, the attacker, who believed a Covid vaccination had caused him chronic health issues, fired more than 500 rounds at the CDC from a nearby pharmacy. Jeff Williams, who heads the CDC’s office of safety, security, and asset management, informed staff that the shooter targeted six buildings with at least 150 bullets, causing fear among the employees, who were forced to shelter in place for hours while security searched the campus.

The shooter, identified as 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White from Kennesaw, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Some employees reported to STAT that they did not receive the security alert on Friday and only found out about the situation through a nearby university’s siren or an email notification from Emory University.

In a separate call on Saturday with staff from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, many employees voiced concerns over the handling of the situation and their overall safety. One woman, near tears, noted that she and her colleagues felt like “sitting ducks.”

The all-hands meeting had originally been scheduled before the attack, intended as a platform for Monarez to introduce herself and her vision for the agency. “This is not the all-staff meeting I wanted to have,” she admitted at the beginning of her address.