Department Leadership (Filing Grievances Daily)

The senior staff of the Department, retained against their better judgment under federal civil-service protections.

Dr. Eleanor Westbrook

Deputy Secretary of Health Truth

Dr. Westbrook joined the Department in 2025 from a 23-year career in the Centers for Disease Control's Epidemiology Division, where she led outbreak response on three continents. She holds an MD from Yale, an MPH from Johns Hopkins, and a quiet sense of dread. She has, at the time of publication, asked Human Resources to be reassigned forty-seven times in the current fiscal quarter. Her requests are on file. Dr. Westbrook does not, in general, decline to comment for staff biographies. She declined to comment for this one.

Dr. Amelia Hartline

Acting Surgeon General

Dr. Hartline assumed the role of Acting Surgeon General in 2025 after the abrupt departure of her predecessor, who, per the Department, "is not currently available for further comment." She holds an MD from Stanford, board certification in family medicine, and the kind of professional reputation that takes thirty years to build and is currently being reconsidered. Dr. Hartline reports to the Secretary "in the technical sense" and would like to be on record that several of the Department's recent advisories were issued without her review. Her oath, she has noted, is to the public — not to the Secretary.

Josephine Kovak, J.D.

General Counsel

Ms. Kovak serves as General Counsel to the Department, where her primary professional activity is the drafting of memoranda explaining why proposed advisories are unlawful, followed by the drafting of memoranda explaining why those advisories are now in effect anyway. She holds a J.D. from the University of Chicago and a personal commitment to the rule of law that has been, of late, professionally inconvenient. Ms. Kovak maintains a private list of departmental actions she anticipates being asked about under oath. The list is comprehensive.

Daniel Reisman

Assistant Secretary for Public Communications

Mr. Reisman leads the Department's communications and press operation. In this role he is responsible for explaining departmental positions to the public, the press, and — periodically — his own family. He holds a B.A. in Government from Georgetown and an M.S. in Strategic Communications from Northwestern. Neither program prepared him for this. Mr. Reisman's voicemail is full. His inbox is full. He is, per the Department's standing notice, "out of office."

Reporting Structure

                      [SECRETARY]
                     R. F. KENMORE
                          |
              +-----------+-----------+
              |                       |
       [DEPUTY SEC.]            [ACTING SURG. GEN.]
       E. WESTBROOK              A. HARTLINE
              |                       |
              +-----------+-----------+
                          |
              +-----------+-----------+
              |                       |
       [GENERAL COUNSEL]      [ASST. SEC. PUB. COMM.]
       J. KOVAK                D. REISMAN

Reporting structure as currently understood. Senior staff reservations have been filed in writing.