\n<\/p>\n
Department of Health and Human Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., right, conducts the swearing-in ceremony of Jim O’Neill as the Department’s Deputy Secretary, June 9, 2025, in Washington. <\/span>Amy Rossetti\/Department of Health and Human Services via AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Centers for Disease<\/span> Control and Prevention (CDC) is reeling this week after a major leadership upheaval<\/a>. Its director Susan Monarez\u2014a microbiologist confirmed by the Senate to lead the agency\u2014was unexpectedly fired just weeks into her tenure. Monarez reportedly clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over what she described as his demands for unscientific vaccine directives. Following her dismissal, top CDC officials resigned<\/a> in protest, warning that political agendas were overriding scientific integrity and posing serious dangers to public health. They were escorted from the agency\u2019s Atlanta headquarters. One of those officials was Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who led the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Daskalakis told<\/a> CBS News that he was \u201cvery concerned that there\u2019s going to be an attempt to re-litigate vaccines that have already had clear recommendations with science that has been vetted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the aftermath, Jim O\u2019Neill, a former tech investor and current Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services under Kennedy, has been appointed<\/a> acting director of the agency. A longtime associate<\/a> of billionaire investor Peter Thiel, O\u2019Neill comes not from a background in epidemiology or medicine but from Silicon Valley\u2019s world of venture capital and techno-utopianism. He is especially well-connected<\/a> in the longevity movement, which seeks to extend human lifespans, and, to a lesser extent, to the \u201cnetwork state\u201d vision of decentralized techno-governance championed by Thiel and other influential Silicon Valley figures.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill first entered the public spotlight in 2016, when President Donald Trump was organizing his first administration and considered him as a possible candidate to be commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration. At the time, O\u2019Neill made waves by suggesting that the agency should not require clinical trials to prove drugs actually worked\u2014but only that they were safe\u2014and that access to drugs should be wide open. \u201cLet people start using them, at their own risk,\u201d he argued<\/a> in a 2014 speech.<\/p>\n During the Covid pandemic, O\u2019Neill publicly advocated for treatments that medical authorities had deemed to be ineffective. The Guardian<\/em> reported<\/a> that O\u2019Neill \u201cvoiced public support for unproven treatments that were not supported by scientific evidence, including ivermectin<\/a> and hydroxychloroquine<\/a>, as well as vitamin D<\/a> as a supposed \u2018prophylaxis.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill\u2019s worldview appears to be deeply influenced by his years working alongside<\/a> Peter Thiel. O\u2019Neill was managing director at Thiel\u2019s Mithril Capital and later CEO of the Thiel-funded venture capital outfit, the Thiel Foundation. He also served as CEO of the Thiel-backed<\/a> SENS Research Foundation, which seeks to \u201cend aging as we know it.\u201d<\/p>\n As MIT Technology Review<\/em> reported<\/a> in June, O\u2019Neill is also connected to a newer wave of techno-optimism taking root in Silicon Valley\u2014the \u201cnetwork state\u201d movement<\/a>. Popularized by entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan in his 2022 book The Network State<\/em>, the idea imagines online-first communities that eventually gain territorial sovereignty. Srinivasan has described<\/a> it as \u201ca country you can start from your computer.\u201d O\u2019Neill appeared<\/a> alongside Srinivasan during Trump\u2019s early tech-leader summits.<\/p>\n On the campaign trail, Donald Trump picked up on the network state concept when he proposed building \u201cfreedom cities<\/a>\u201d on federal land in rural areas. An organization called the Frontier Foundation drafted an\u00a0open letter<\/a>\u00a0in February pushing Trump to act on that idea.\u00a0Last year, O\u2019Neill posted<\/a> on X, \u201cBuild freedom cities.\u201d Financial disclosure documents<\/a> uncovered by MIT Technology Review<\/em> revealed that O\u2019Neill also served on the board of the Seasteading Institute, a network-state project that aims to build a floating nation at sea.<\/p>\n Another of O\u2019Neill\u2019s fans is Niklas Anzinger, an entrepreneur and founder of Infinita City, a biotech hub in Pr\u00f3spera, a special economic zone in Roat\u00e1n, Honduras, and the crown jewel of the Network State movement. Anzinger advocates for \u201clongevity cities\u201d\u2014experimental urban jurisdictions designed to fast-track biomedical advances through agile regulation and infrastructure. Last November, Anzinger wrote<\/a> on X that O\u2019Neill \u201cwould be my most celebrated pick for the new administration\u2014go Jim!\u201d<\/p>\n The intersection of public health and techno-optimism alarms some experts. On Bluesky<\/a>, Tara Smith, an epidemiologist at Kent State University, compared O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment as acting CDC head to \u201cmaking Elon Musk head of the FAA.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n