The Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Tobacco Products (CTP) Director Brian King has been removed from his position and offered reassignment to the Indian Health Service, according to an Associated Press (AP) report.
“It is with a heavy heart and profound disappointment that I share I have been placed on administrative leave,” King said in an email to his staff cited by AP.
The reassignments of some senior leaders, who are based in Washington, D.C., to Indian Health Service territories is seen as a tactic to force people out because of the relocation to other parts of the United States, according to a New York Times report citing employees.
Dozens of staffers at the CTP, including “the entire office responsible for drafting new tobacco regulations,” also received notices of dismissal on Tuesday, AP reported. Stephanie Shih, budget director of the CTP, posted a statement on LinkedIn that read in part that she has also been “impacted by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Reduction in Force (RIF).”
“Elsewhere at the FDA, the agency’s entire press office of more than a dozen communication staffers and managers was also given notice,” AP said.
Tuesday morning, former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Calif posted a statement on LinkedIn that read in part, “[The FDA] as we’ve known it is finished, with most of the leaders with institutional knowledge and a deep understanding of product development and safety no longer employed.”
The widespread removal of personnel within the FDA follows the Senate confirmation of Marty Makary to lead the FDA, which oversees the CTP.
King led the CTP office since 2022, succeeding Mitch Zeller. Prior to joining the FDA, King worked at the Center for Disease Control's Office on Smoking and Health.
During his time at as the CTP director King faced pushback, including the illicit e-cigarette market. In January, the FDA, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized more than 628,000 unauthorized e-cigarette products from a warehouse in Miami. The seized products valued at more than $7 million included mostly flavored, disposable e-cigarettes, including the Geek Bar brand, as well as some packs, kits and batteries. In 2024, Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee grilled King and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Deputy Assistant Attorney General Arun Rao of the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch on the lack of enforcement regarding illegal e-cigarettes.
During his tenure as CTP director, e-cigarette use among U.S. youth dropped to its lowest level in a decade.
On Tuesday morning, the American Vapor Manufacturers posted on X the news of King's removal and wrote that “we will have much more to say on this development and King's track record later today.”
National Association of Tobacco Outlets (NATO) Executive Director David Spross told CSP on Tuesday that the “leadership changes reported this morning present an opportunity for a reset at the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.” Spross added that NATO hopes that King’s successor will implement effective tobacco harm reduction policies, including by authorizing more non-combusted nicotine products to provide adult smokers with expanded choices.
“NATO acknowledges retailers’ need for more transparency from the agency, specifically with respect to information on illicit products in the vapor and nicotine pouch categories,” Spross told CSP.
CSP reached out to the FDA for comment but did not receive a reply by posting time.
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