WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration always looks a little different after an administration change. Political appointees are swapped out, maybe some offices are restructured. 

But the FDA under the new Trump administration is already starting to look dramatically different. It’s hard to keep track of how many people have left, with departures stemming from early retirements, layoffs, buyout offers, or even forced resignations. 

Elon Musk and the U.S. DOGE Service are on a mission to cut costs across government, in part by trimming the federal workforce. It’s unclear whether their efforts to push staff out, including firing probationary workers and offering some staff $20,000 to quit, are legal. But the chaos is certainly having the desired effect: People are leaving.