The little-known architect of $67B in HHS cuts

The relentless drumbeat of cuts to U.S. government research and disease prevention have devastated tens of thousands of affected workers and academics. To hear them tell it, today’s children and grandchildren will live shorter lives and the brightest scientists will flee the country. 

There’s one man at the center of it all and, chances are, you haven’t even heard of him. 

Brad Smith has been a leading figure within the Trump administration’s U.S. DOGE Service, directing its cost-cutting efforts at the Department of Health and Human Services, a vast agency whose charges include ensuring drugs are safe, preventing diseases from spreading, and administering health care for older, disabled, and low-income Americans.