John,

CREW just sued the CDC for violating the Freedom of Information and Administrative Procedure Act.

Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services began laying off 10,000 employees, which included the entire office dedicated to fulfilling FOIA requests for the CDC. CREW requested records through FOIA and received an automatic response stating that the “FOIA office had been placed on admin leave and is unable to respond to any emails.”

That’s unacceptable. Responding to FOIA requests is not optional, and the government can’t dodge transparency by laying off FOIA staff.

Our requests seek information related to the closing of CDC’s FOIA office and DOGE’s involvement in it, as well as records regarding a recent report that the CDC allegedly suppressed an expert assessment about measles vaccination.

The CDC, like every government agency, is required by law to keep records and to turn them over to the public when requested in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. The CDC has no apparent plans to handle the thousands of FOIA requests it has and will receive, which is a violation of the law.

Given ongoing measles outbreaks, it is crucial that Americans have transparency into the CDC’s operations and DOGE’s apparent interference into public health agencies.

That’s why we’re suing to compel the CDC to follow federal law and to get those records, as well as asking the court to find that the decision to destroy the CDC’s FOIA office is both unlawful and arbitrary and capricious in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act.

Thank you,

CREW HQ