A rank-and-file CDC scientist felt secure enough to make demands of agency leaders and criticize their work, sometimes copying the HHS secretary on correspondence, a recently released trove of CDC emails shows.
In several emails, William Thompson, PhD, a senior scientist in CDC's division of viral hepatitis, noted that he was working on behalf of the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s interests. He also frequently looped in other political leadership at the agency.
Thompson pushed for access to data used in an autism study that was conducted more than two decades ago -- one that he co-authored -- and at one point he complained to political superiors that another project led by a high-ranking CDC official was "one of the most absurd SOWs [scope of work] I have ever seen."
Thompson's tone throughout the emails, released as part of an investigation by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, was direct and empowered. He works under federal whistleblower protections, according to the New York Times, and Kennedy himself touted his connections with Thompson during a Senate hearing last year.
When asked during that hearing to name one scientist Kennedy spoke with at the CDC, he named Thompson.
