9/11 News Items (9/13/25)
Arnold Korotkin
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
With the 24th observance of the 9/11 attacks this week, eight months into the new administration, it’s time to call out HHS Secretary Kennedy’s chaotic record managing the World Trade Center Health Program (WTCHP) —firing staff, rehiring staff, firing and rehiring its Administrator, freezing research funds, enforcing a communications ban for the program, and keeping a hiring ban in place.
All of these actions impact the 9/11 responder and survivor community. It needs to stop. Secretary Kennedy must let the World Trade Center Health Program do its job.
When the new administration started on January 21, the WTCHP had 93 staff–well below its authorized head count of 138– along with support staff from the CDC for grants, contracts and human resources.
It was supposed to increase its staff after it had gained 10,000 new members in calendar 2024, with an estimated 10,000 new members joining this year seeking medical monitoring and treatment for 9/11 illnesses, including over 60 different cancers.
Here are the impacts of Secretary Kennedy’s tenure as of this week:
- Staff: Best estimates are that the WTCHP has only 80 staff, since so many took the Trump administration buyout.
- Communications: The communications ban/hiatus has been preventing the program from responding to issues raised by the 9/11 community. Its ability to do surveillance for new emerging conditions is severely restricted. It has prevented the Program’s 9/11 Responder and Survivor Steering committees from meeting. The Responder Steering Committee includes 9/11 responders and doctors and has met every month since 9/11 to work on the health issues facing the 9/11 community until Secretary Kennedy took over.
- Petition determinations: The program was scheduled in March to make determinations regarding several long-standing petitions to add conditions that have been pending for some time, among them petitions made by all 9/11 health clinic directors to add cardiac conditions and autoimmune conditions to the list of conditions covered by the program, following the requirements of the Zadroga law. But March came and went with no action.
- Research funding: The WTCHP would normally have started in March to award millions of dollars of new research grants for the year, provided for under the Zadroga law, but March came and went with no action.
- Management: Since the Secretary’s announcement in March that the WTC Health Program would be moved from the CDC to his new “Administration for a Healthy America” (AHA), there has been no information on the specifics of the move, let alone specifics on what support the WTC Health Program would have in this new entity.
With the continuing growing numbers of responders and survivors that have 9/11 cancers approaching 50,000, with reports of emerging conditions with unexpected increased incidences among the program population and his communications ban interfering with the program’s response, the Secretary needs to change course and acknowledge—as he did in May—that he has continued to make mistakes with the program.
Secretary Kennedy must allow the World Trade Center Health Program to do its job.
Background
You can read about the impact of the Secretary’s actions on the program here.
You can see Senators Gillibrand and Schumer’s August 5th letter to Secretary Kennedy on the problems facing the World Trade Center Health Program here.
You can see 911 Health Watch’s August 8th letter to Secretary Kennedy on the impact of the communications ban here.
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Below are summaries with URLs to news articles on the effort to ensure that the World Trade Center Health Program is fully funded. An archive of past articles year by year can by found on the Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Inc. website here. September 10, 2025 — CBS News New York — Advocates seek to expand health program for 9/11 survivors. Here’s what they want. New York City Council members, including Linda Lee, and first responder advocate John Feal joined other 9/11 heroes for a news conference Wednesday morning on the steps of City Hall. September 9, 2025 — CBS News New York — Double-lung transplant gives 9/11 first responder a second chance at life As a New York City Police Department Emergency Services Unit member in 2001, Bill Giammarino spent months searching for survivors, and then remains. September 9, 2025 — ABC News — New York Fire Department to honor 39 members killed by 9/11-related illnesses this year On Tuesday, the New York City Fire Department will remember 39 members who died in the past year of illnesses related to their work during the rescue and recovery efforts at what was then known as The Pile. September 9, 2025 — Spectrum News NY1 — HHS ‘chaos’ undermining WTC Health Program, advocates warn ahead of 24th 9/11 anniversary Since President Donald Trump returned to office earlier this year, advocates say, the administration has shortchanged the health program by firing and then rehiring program staff and other HHS workers and slow-rolling grants for research. September 9, 2025 — Newsday — Lung transplant gave Ground Zero first responder, of Holtsville, the chance to breath easier, walk on his own He worked Ground Zero five months, did his shifts on the pile and one year later developed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a respiratory condition, often found in heavy smokers, that afflicts close to 4,000 Ground Zero responders. September 9, 2025 — Newsday — 9/11 responders, advocates continue quest to solidify funding for World Trade Center Health Program The group of 9/11 first responders and advocates who made their way through the halls of the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday say they worry that the public and lawmakers are slowly forgetting the acts of service that followed the attacks. September 9, 2025 — NTD — 50,000 9/11 Survivors, First Responders Diagnosed With Cancer: CDC The number of first responders and survivors diagnosed with cancers linked to the Sept. 11 attacks has continued to rise to nearly 50,000, according to an updated report from the World Trade Center (WTC) Health Program. September 9, 2025 — Citizens for the Extension of the James Zadroga Act — Statement on Continuing Problems the World Trade Center Health Program Has Been Experiencing Under Secretary Kennedy Secretary Kennedy must let the World Trade Center Health Program do its job. September 8, 2025 — FDNY — FDNY Adds 39 Names to Memorial Wall for Deaths Related to World Trade Center Illnesses The Department has lost more than 400 members to World Trade Center illnesses. September 8, 2025 — Rockland/Westchester Journal News — 9/11 responders fear RFK Jr.’s CDC chaos will curb future health care 9/11 responders like retired NYPD Det. Richard Volpe fear the clock will run out. “Eventually it’s gonna kill me,” said Volpe of his rare kidney disease. “I have a lot of concerns with my family.” September 6, 2025 — New York Post — Ex-NYPD cop who feared 9/11-related kidney disease would rob his fertility calls his daughters ‘miracle babies’ Rich Volpe was a buff 34-year-old NYPD detective when he was diagnosed with a rare 9/11-related kidney disease that threatened to rob his fertility and leave him clinging to life.
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