2026 outlook: ‘Slow-moving catastrophe’ at FDA 

Leadership churn is the most visible sign of chaos at FDA, but less visible changes inside the agency will do more to shape its performance in 2026. The rejection of norms that protect its integrity, impatience with process, and, most damaging, the hollowing out of expertise are causing cumulative harm that will be increasingly difficult to reverse.

The conviction that government is bloated and can be fixed by firing first and sorting out consequences later has had a particularly destructive effect at the agency. ...