FDA’s Rebuilding Effort Stuck in Bureaucratic Delays Created by DOGE Cuts

The FDA is trying to rebuild, and its own bureaucracy is doing its best to stop it.

Just over a year after Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service cut 3,500 FDA workers and triggered a wider exodus, the agency is now pushing to add more than 2,000 people back to its staff. The problem is that the hiring push is getting tangled in the very delays created by those same cuts.

Karim Mikhail, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told drug manufacturers at a conference Monday that hiring is moving fast. The agency is also posting group photos of new hires on social media, declaring “Welcome to FDA!” with cheerful fanfare.

But the reality on the ground is more complicated. STAT has learned that the FDA’s hiring drive is stuck in bureaucratic delays, caught in the same red tape that the agency is trying to fix.

What the DOGE cuts cost the FDA

The April 2025 cuts hit hard. The FDA lost 3,500 workers at once, and that loss set off a chain reaction. Staff left voluntarily in larger numbers.

The cuts were severe, and the agency has been working since then to recover its footing. The agency’s capacity to manage its workload was affected, though the exact scope of the decline is not detailed in the available reporting.

The hiring push and the bureaucratic bottleneck

Now the FDA is trying to fill those seats again. The agency is actively recruiting, and Mikhail’s comments at the conference made that clear. The social media posts celebrating new hires suggest the agency sees visible progress.

But the hiring process itself is slow. The delays are bureaucratic in nature, and they trace back to the same cuts the agency is trying to undo. The agency is struggling to move candidates through the system as quickly as it wants.

Comparing where the FDA stands today

The contrast is stark. A year ago, the agency was losing staff. Now it is gaining them, but the gears that move people through the system are stuck.

Why the delays matter

The delays are slowing down the hiring process. The agency is trying to fix the problems created by the cuts while still operating under a system damaged by those same cuts. It is a classic bureaucratic Catch-22, and there is no quick exit from it.

For the FDA, the stakes are practical. The agency needs to clear the bottlenecks quickly, or the recovery will stall.

What comes next for the FDA

The FDA is not giving up on hiring. Mikhail’s public comments and the agency’s social media posts show that the push continues. But the delays suggest the agency is not yet winning the fight.

The key question is whether the hiring momentum can overcome the bureaucratic friction. The agency needs to clear the bottlenecks quickly, or the recovery will stall.

The FDA’s own message is optimistic. Its actions, as STAT has found, are more complicated.

bureaucracy · DOGE cuts · FDA · hiring delays · regulatory slowdown