Violence Prevention Was Eliminated. Disinformation Wasn’t.
- Dr. Sarah DeGue
- Aug 11
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 19
Federal cuts have created a perfect storm for targeted violence—and a preventable one.
Friday’s shooting targeting CDC’s main campus in Atlanta ended with the tragic death of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose and has left an already-traumatized public-health workforce in shock. Multiple CDC buildings were struck by gunfire—more than 150 windows shattered by bullets—leaving thousands of workers, and 92 children at the on-site daycare, to shelter in place until late in the night while law enforcement secured the area.
The attack lands on a workforce already carrying heavy grief and uncertainty. In recent months, layoffs and reorganizations eliminated as many as one-in-four jobs at the agency while slashing budgets for research and prevention. At an event held by current and former CDC staff and allies on August 10, several speakers reflected on a statement made earlier this year by Russell Vought, now Director of the Office of Personnel Management:
“We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them not to want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains. We want their funding to be shut down… We want to put them in trauma.”
Mission accomplished?
My personal connection to this trauma—this weekend’s attack, and the months of institutional trauma that preceded it—runs deep. During the attack, former colleagues texted photos of bullet holes in windows of buildings where I’ve sat countless times. Just days earlier, my 9-year-old daughter was in the CVS across the street—where the shooter apparently launched his attack—for a sports physical to join the track team. This is my neighborhood. This was my CDC family, under attack.
Friday's attack on federal buildings and workers was not random. The suspect—who died at the scene—reportedly harbored vaccine-related grievances toward CDC, reflecting widespread disinformation campaigns that have already driven historic drops in vaccination rates and the return of nearly eradicated diseases. Some of those narratives have been amplified by senior federal officials, further eroding trust and the safety of federal employees.
We do not have to live like this. This kind of violence is preventable.
Welcome to The Space Between
I started this blog to fill the space between what we KNOW about violence and what we DO about it. Violence is preventable, but we often don’t prevent it. I’ll explore why that is, what the evidence says, and how we can do better.
Unfortunately, recent federal cuts to the violence prevention workforce, critical data and research, and prevention funding to communities has made that work much harder.
What We Know
Targeted violence follows a pattern. It isn’t random; it’s the product of grievance, isolation, ideological framing, anger, desensitization to violence, dehumanization of the “other,” access to means, and a moment of crisis. Disinformation accelerates each step: it supplies the grievance, narrows identity into “us vs. them,” normalizes hostile talk, and shortens the runway from online escalation to offline action.
Prevention interrupts that pattern. The public-health approach—define/monitor the problem, identify risk and protective factors, develop/test strategies, and scale what works—gives communities a roadmap to make violence less likely before it starts. That’s the work many of us at CDC built with partners over decades, and the focus of my recent paper applying this approach to targeted violence.
Cuts to Violence Prevention Are Dangerous
In recent years, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) advanced initiatives informed by the public health approach to reduce the risk of targeted violence, alongside CDC’s long-standing work on evidence-based prevention across all forms of violence. In recent months, much of that federal prevention work was eliminated, and teams that translated evidence into practice were dissolved. In April, three-quarters of CDC’s Division of Violence Prevention was laid off through a Reduction in Force (RIF), curtailing research and programs that support evidence-based prevention in communities. Staff at DHS’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships—the government’s hub for targeted violence prevention expertise and practice—were also largely eliminated. Key data systems, knowledge-building efforts, and prevention programs have been paused, reduced, or placed in uncertainty.
The result isn’t theoretical. Fewer people are tracking trends, fewer are helping communities apply evidence, and fewer are available to test and scale promising solutions. Meanwhile, the disinformation ecosystem keeps churning—faster than most local systems can respond.
Why These Two Issues Are One Problem
Disinformation widens the on-ramp; prevention narrows it. Remove prevention capacity and lies travel farther, faster, with fewer friction points.
Disinformation isolates; prevention connects. Conspiracy content pulls people into closed loops; prevention builds belonging, prosocial bonds, and credible off-ramps.
Disinformation normalizes hostility; prevention shifts norms. Evidence-based strategies change environments (schools, workplaces, online spaces) so aggression is less tolerated and help-seeking is easier.
Disinformation thrives on uncertainty; prevention provides clarity. Data systems, monitoring, and clear guidance reduce the ambiguity that rumors exploit.
When you dismantle the second while the first is accelerating, you create a preventable gap—the kind of gap that results in more violence like the attack on Friday.
What Communities Can Do Now
While we wait for renewed investments in violence prevention at the federal level, we cannot stop doing the work to protect our communities from targeted violence. Schools, health systems, employers, local governments, philanthropy, and community organizations can:
Stand up clear “see a concern → get help” pathways. Pair reporting options with supportive services (threat assessment and care management), not punishment alone. Most targeted-violence incidents are not “out of the blue”; there are often warning signs and “leaks” if we pay attention and know how to respond.
Increase connection where isolation grows. Mentoring, peer groups, extracurriculars, and community hubs—especially during transitions (new school, job loss, return from deployment, major illness, trauma, loss of connection).
Build digital resilience. Offer media-literacy workshops; publish a local “credible sources” guide; create rapid-response communication plans for rumors. Teach young people (and adults) how to tell what’s real, what’s false, and where to find trustworthy information.
Make environments protective. Improve school and workplace climate, train supervisors to recognize warning signs and respond supportively, and reduce everyday exposure to hostility and harassment.
Use voluntary crisis-safety practices. Normalize temporary barriers during acute risk (e.g., secure or off-site firearm storage, safety planning, brief counseling on lethal-means safety in healthcare).
Care for the caregivers. Provide psychological first aid, structured check-ins, and short-term workload adjustments after acute incidents. Trauma recovery is prevention.
Where This Leaves Us
There’s no comfort in saying Friday’s attack was preventable—but there is responsibility. Disinformation, and the demonization of federal workers, poured gasoline on a spark of grievance. At the same time, federal efforts to prevent that violence before it begins were largely eliminated. That gap is real. Until it’s rebuilt, the work falls to communities, institutions, and all of us who can choose connection over cruelty and facts over fear.
We must continue the work—tirelessly, locally, and together—to make violence less likely. But it will not be easy.
Please join me in supporting the family of DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, who bravely and selflessly gave his life protecting thousands of federal workers from a violent attack. A GoFundMe campaign is raising money for his wife and two young children, with another child on the way. His sacrifice, and theirs, cannot be forgotten.
Sign up for the Violence Prevention Solutions newsletter, including new editions of The Space Between, to learn what works and how to put evidence into action to end violence and make all of our communities safer.
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Disclaimer: This blog is written in my personal capacity. The views expressed are mine alone and do not represent the positions of the U.S. federal government or any past or current employer.
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