Things aren’t going well for two of the country’s top health agencies—the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Tuesday, USA Today reported that the CDC has repeatedly faced secret federal sanctions over the mishandling of bioterror pathogens in several of its labs. The report, which came about only after USA Today won a Freedom of Information Act appeal, reveals that the CDC is one of just a handful of facilities that had a lab suspended after serious safety violations were found. The CDC acknowledged after the FOIA appeal that its labs have gotten into trouble with federal regulators six times for unsafely handling bacteria, viruses, and/or toxins that are considered potential bioterror weapons.

The agency refused to reveal the specific labs and most of the bioterror agents involved in the mishaps, citing security reasons and the federal Bioterrorism Act. However, it vaguely described issues such as “sending improperly killed select agent pathogens to entities not approved to receive them” and storing potential bioterror weapons in “un-registered” spaces within CDC labs. The CDC said that one of the incidents involved Japanese encephalitis virus, which can cause deadly brain inflammation. The agency was quick to note that the virus is no longer considered a potential bioterror weapon by the government.

Five of the six run-ins with federal regulators have been resolved after corrective actions were put in place, the agency said. One enforcement action case remains open. However, the CDC said that all of the cases were not a cause for concern. "None of these violations resulted in a risk to the public or illness in laboratory workers," the agency said.

The same can’t be said for problems found at the NIH, unfortunately. An outside review of the NIH’s clinical center found “substantial operations issues” and concluded that patient safety had become “subservient to research demands.” According to a report Tuesday by the Washington Post, the review has sparked a shake-up of leadership at the hospital, including a removal of its director of 22 years, John Gallin. In his place, the agency will install a leadership structure that echoes that of other modern hospitals, including a chief executive and chief medical officer.

The NIH is currently conducting a search for candidates to run the 240-bed clinical center, which the agency says is the largest hospital in the world dedicated to research.

The review of the facility was triggered last June after an inspection revealed fungal contamination in material that was made to be injected into patients.