White House weighs FDA leadership shakeup, considers Kyle Diamantas as acting chief

The White House was weighing a leadership reshuffle at the Food and Drug Administration that could put Kyle Diamantas, the agency’s top food official, in charge of the regulator just as it prepared to replace Marty Makary. The choice would carry immediate consequences for food recalls, inspections and consumer protection, because Diamantas already sits at the center of the FDA’s food-safety apparatus.

Diamantas leads the Human Foods Program, which the FDA says oversees all nutrition and food-safety activities and regulates about 80% of the U.S. food supply. His office also controls food-related resources in the Office of Inspections and Investigations and serves as a critical liaison between the FDA, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House. That makes him one of the most consequential figures in the agency’s current push on food policy, not just a possible caretaker if Makary is pushed aside.

The leadership uncertainty came as Makary, confirmed by the Senate on March 25, 2025, faced growing pressure inside and outside the administration. NOTUS reported on May 5, 2026, that Makary was on “thin ice” with the White House, while White House spokesperson Kush Desai called him an “invaluable asset” to the Trump administration. The same reporting described frustration over drug-approval decisions and signs of deeper dysfunction inside the agency.

The FDA’s food agenda gives the dispute added weight. Its 2026 Human Foods Program priorities include removing petroleum-based food dyes, reviewing food additives that could be banned and tightening regulation and transparency around food substances. If the White House elevates Diamantas, it would signal that the administration wants the FDA’s food mission to move faster and align more closely with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again agenda.

Other names were also in circulation for the acting role or a longer-term nomination, including former FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, former acting commissioner and assistant health secretary Brett Giroir, FDA deputy commissioner Grace Graham and Sara Brenner, the agency’s principal deputy commissioner. The FDA says Giroir received delegable commissioner duties on November 1, 2019, and was appointed acting commissioner on November 6, 2019, a reminder that the agency has a recent template for a rapid handoff.

The stakes reach beyond personnel drama. After years of criticism over the FDA’s structure and pace, a move to install a food chief at the top would suggest the White House is treating food safety as a strategic priority, while still deciding what kind of regulator it wants overseeing drugs, vaccines and the nation’s food system.