DEVELOPING: As DOGE reportedly descends on CDC, one employee tried to accept deferred resignation—but doesn’t even know if it worked.

The employee sent the "Resign" email but has heard nothing back. "I feel like they ghosted me. Can I get an emoji at least?"

Getty Images / Yasuyoshi Chiba

There are widespread rumors that DOGE agents entered the CDC, possibly at the agency’s main campus in Atlanta. The in-person presence of DOGE operatives has not been confirmed, but in conversations I had with several current and former CDC employees this evening, the specifics provided were detailed enough that I’m reporting the rest of this now as Breaking News.

Meanwhile, I spoke with a CDC official who attempted to take the Trump administration’s “Deferred Resignation Program” buyout offer, because, ironically, they already had another job lined up (so getting paid double for a while sounded like a nice idea).

However, that individual has no idea if their resignation email was received by the administration, nor whether the terms will be honored. “I feel like they ghosted me,” the possibly-former CDC official told me.

Here's what we know…

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Reports and rumors flying about DOGE and the CDC.

DOGE (the “Department of Government Efficiency”) is reportedly attempting to create turmoil at the CDC, Inside Medicine learned this evening from several people familiar with the unfolding situation. “They’ve been there all day,” said a former CDC worker with knowledge of the situation.

With the Deferred Resignation Program offer expiring tomorrow, February 6, henchpersons from the “Department of Government Efficiency” appear to be expanding their attempt to dismantle the United States’ public health infrastructure, which took decades to build and helps keep us safe from pandemics among other critical functions. After initially focusing on USAID (the United States Agency for International Development), DOGE has apparently turned its attention to the CDC. Not unexpected. Not welcome.

Everyone at the CDC I spoke to had only heard indirectly that DOGE was on campus in Atlanta. But several provided specific examples of what the cabal was up to, including one case of an independent contract ending abruptly and immediately, without warning.

As reported in the Washington Post, I was also told by multiple CDC officials that DOGE was attempting to identify employees who would be the easiest to fire. That includes “probationary hires,” referring to anyone who has been employed at the CDC for less than two years. There was also special interest in any work being done on health disparities, which has oddly been conflated with DEI-related projects.

I was told that DOGE operatives have been asking leaders at the CDC’s various Centers, Divisions, Branches, and Programs to identify staffers who are and are not “mission critical,” causing heartbreaking moral dilemmas for supervisors who have often mentored many of their direct reports for years.

One official believed that DOGE was seeking to eliminate 25%-50% of the CDC’s staff, which would could amount to 5,000-6,000 public health professionals.

Is that possible? One of my sources told me that firing individuals might be difficult—which means that DOGE’s attempt to get a list of “expendable” employees may be nothing more than a scare tactic designed to increase the number of people who elect to accept deferred resignation. The trouble is that there may be loopholes. “If they want to get rid of an entire Center, they can. Center, Programs, Divisions. As long as it’s not targeted at an individual, they can probably do it.”

One way that cuts may occur is by targeting contractors, some of whom basically work full-time for the CDC, and have for lengthy periods. The exact number of contractors is not clear, but in the past it was perhaps 30-40% of the CDC’s workforce, one source said. Others at risk are those who work overseas and public health analyst fellows from outside agencies. “If you get rid of all the contractors and all the probational employees? That’s a lot of staff,” the CDC official said.

Targeting probationary employees seems especially cruel and counterproductive, the source said, as they are paid less and are the opposite of the caricatured image of pencil-pushing bureaucrats merely warming seats and cashing paychecks.

“It makes no sense. Getting rid of the baby employees is destroying the public health work force. You’re not draining the swamp. You’re getting rid of the junior, young, eager, hungry. That’s new staff that you could shape. It doesn't make any sense.”

That is, unless the goal is to dismantle the agency, in the Trump administration’s reckless campaign to all but destroy the US public health infrastructure. “We have a deficit of workers at the CDC, not a surplus.”

Breaking up is hard to do: One CDC official attempted to take the deferred resignation program offer—but doesn’t know if it even worked.

One of our sources decided to take the Deferred Resignation Program offer today, after pondering the issue. It didn’t go smoothly, at least not so far.

First some background: The Deferred Resignation Program (called the “Fork in the Road”) is President Trump’s attempt to get more than 2 million US employees to resign, expires tomorrow, February 6. So far, numbers have been low, but, naturally, are increasing. Those who have accepted the offer likely include people who were close to retirement anyway or who, like our CDC source, already had another job lined up well before any of this chaos ensued. For that individual, accepting the offer is akin to being paid double for eight months, effectively costing taxpayers money, rather than saving it (i.e., the stated intent of the program).

Stick with me here for a minute. It’s worth it…

To accept the offer, our CDC source had to follow The Trump administration’s seemingly simple instructions:

After sending the email with the word “Resign” in the subject line, a confirmation email acknowledging receipt was supposed to sent:

I was interested in how that went. Until now, I had not yet heard what the experience of taking the Trump offer feels like, or how smoothly the process goes. The answer? Not very smoothly. Confusing. Bizarre, even.

Here’s my exchange with the possibly-former CDC employee (shared with permission):

Inside Medicine: How did you convey your resignation?

CDC source: Literally I just wrote the email.

Inside Medicine: Just like, “Resign?”

CDC source: Yeah. Just like they said to do.

Inside Medicine: And did you hear anything back?

CDC source: Nothing. It’s like…Did they even get it? I didn’t get a damn thing.

Inside Medicine: Wait, so you don’t know even if you managed to quit or not? Whether you will get the money they promised?

CDC source: Yeah. It’s like I’m trying to resign, but it’s not working out. I feel like they ghosted me. Can I get an emoji at least?

Inside Medicine: So, what are you doing now?

CDC source: I keep checking my email like a psycho. And my other job is like, “Okay what’s going on. Have you announced your plans yet?”

Lovely. And hardly reassuring for others weighing more difficult choices.

Fear tactics and chaos, not efficiency.

Meanwhile, DOGE and the Trump administration appears to be trying to scare employees into taking the deferred resignation plan at the last minute. Whether anyone should accept the offer or not depends on their position and, in reality, on details that nobody can predict—including whether any of this is legal and whether Trump and Elon Musk will honor the agreement. (Allegations of not following through on similar past deals have dogged both.)

This much is clear: the Trump administration has tried to make quitting easy for federal employees. So far, at least for the one person I spoke to at the CDC who tried, it wasn’t.

Hardly a model of government efficiency.

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That’s what we know for now. Thanks for reading, sharing, speaking out, and supporting Inside Medicine! Please ask your questions in the comments and if you can’t upgrade due to financial considerations, just email me. If you have details about any of the unfolding stories we are following, please email me or find me on Signal.

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