From left, Katherine Bliss, senior fellow and director of Immunizations and Health Systems Resilience at CSIS Global Health Policy Center; Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center; and Gary Edson, president of the COVID Collaborative, discuss a new report from a bipartisan working group launched by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joined by remote panelists.

From left, Katherine Bliss, senior fellow and director of Immunizations and Health Systems Resilience at CSIS Global Health Policy Center; Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security; J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center; and Gary Edson, president of the COVID Collaborative, discuss a new report from a bipartisan working group launched by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, joined by remote panelists. Courtney Buble / GovExec

Report: The CDC is in ‘Peril,’ But Here’s How to Fix it

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention should rethink its D.C. presence and reform hiring, the report suggests. 

The nation’s public health agency currently “faces a moment of peril” as it works to restructure after issues raised during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report that suggested the agency establish a greater presence in the nation’s capital and make hiring reforms, among other changes. 

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outlined in August how she seeks to change the culture and operations at her agency to improve timeliness, collaboration, communication and accountability after it underwent a review earlier in the year. This came after the agency faced criticisms for various aspects of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic response under the Trump and Biden administrations. Additionally, the fiscal 2023 government spending package that President Biden signed on December 29 gave the CDC a funding bump, increased investments in public health infrastructure and made the director a Senate confirmed position. 

But still, the agency has a long way to go, according to a new report from a bipartisan working group launched by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which acknowledges that much of the power to actually make changes at the CDC comes from the White House, Health and Human Services Department and Congress. 

“Today, CDC faces a moment of peril,” the report stated. “Over the course of the pandemic, it has suffered a rapid, dramatic decline in public support across many demographics and groups.” This peril “does not occur in a silo,” the report noted, as “it unfolds amid a broad attitudinal swing in America toward higher skepticism of science, the federal government, and U.S. health-centered institutions.” 

Having CDC’s headquarters in Atlanta and only a small presence in D.C. is a “major disadvantage,” the working group found. About 73.6% of CDC employees are based in Georgia, according to the most recently available data from the Office of Personnel Management. 

“Further, CDC does not possess a cadre of decision makers who are comfortable and trained to work in international and national security decision-making with the White House and other departments and agencies,” said the report. “Such core staff will be essential if CDC is to become more rapid, nimble, and effective and aligned with broader federal agencies.” 

Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, wrote the report and it was endorsed by 40 members of the working group. The working group––which included former government officials (and specifically a former CDC director) and a member of Congress––had just shy of 40 members who signed onto a broad consensus on the findings and recommendations and served as representatives of their organizations. 

Another area of reform the working group recommended was human capital. 

Taking the lead from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, “Congress should permit CDC to change hiring practices to allow faster hires in crisis and more flexibility to move people in the field, including through noncompetitive hiring of temporary staff during an outbreak response,” said the report. “This should also include seamless ways to onboard these staff to CDC as each response winds down, in order to increase the number of people at the agency with experience successfully responding to outbreaks.” 

The working group noted that the agency is establishing a new career incentive system to award work in outbreak response and not just academic publication achievements. 

“That does not mean that the agency should abandon the rewards and pathway to promotion for academic and scientific excellence as one route for moving forward in the agency,” the report said. “However, it needs new, equally strong pathways for advancement that reward operational speed, experience, and accomplishment alongside subject matter expertise.” 

Other recommendations include clarifying and reaffirming the CDC’s main mission; strengthening the CDC’s global mission; reforming the agency’s guidance development process; launching a high-level dialogue with congressional and executive branch leaders to plan for the agency’s future; improving the quality and speed of its data collection; and giving the CDC more flexibility with its budget.

The CDC did not respond for comment on the report. 

Susan Brooks, co-chair of the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security who was a member of the working group and previously served in Congress, said at a CSIS event on Tuesday that the goal now is to share the report with members of Congress. She noted that this year the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act needs to be approved. 

While much of the authority to make changes at the CDC rests with Congress, another panelist and member of the working group issued a word of caution later during the event. 

“Frankly, I don’t think Congress, and especially Republicans, are going to be eager to put new wine in what’s perceived to be an old and broken bottle,” said Gary Edson, president of the Covid Collaborative, an assembly of diverse experts on public health, education and the economy, who previously served as deputy national security advisor and deputy national economic advisor to President George W. Bush. “I think now it’s up to the CDC to step up and [it] needs to first hone the failures of its own making.” These failures include the testing debacle early in the pandemic and issues producing swift and clear guidance, which is why the report calls for the high-level dialogue, Edson said.

“By the same token if congressional investigations are nothing more than a witch hunt that’s not going to make Americans any safer either,” he added.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.