Keith’s note: some reactions to JPL’s job layoffs. If the PBR is enacted in whole or in part – and OMB continues to cut and RIF – then this may be just a preview.
- JPL Hit With Another 550 Layoffs as NASA’s Budget Crisis Deepens, Gizmodo, “If you really want NASA to be that leader—not just to win, but also to show why we won—you would be doing the exact opposite of what you’re doing at NASA right now,” Cowing said.”
- JPL, the Southern California NASA center, is laying off hundreds of employees, LAIst, “The JPL that we knew is gone,” said one employee, who has worked at JPL for over 10 years and lamented the repeated layoffs. The engineer also described an ongoing brain drain and a feeling of despondency among the staff. LAist agreed not to name the person, who feared reprisal for speaking publicly.”
- NASA’s JPL cuts 550 jobs in latest round of layoffs at La Cañada Flintridge facility, LA Times, “Layoffs and attrition have reduced JPL’s overall staffing by about one-third in the last two years, sources at the organization said, from roughly 6,500 to around 4,500 after this week’s reduction. JPL endured three rounds of layoffs last year alone, prompted by massive federal budget cuts for its beleaguered Mars Sample Return mission.”
- JPL Workforce Decimated, EOS, “Federal whistleblowers, however, have come forward with evidence that NASA leadership has been operating as if the President’s Budget Request (PBR)—not the appropriations bill—is in effect, directing mission wind-down operations and staff reductions under the assumption of a 20% overall budget cut. Some of that lost spending would affect JPL’s ability to plan, build, and operate Earth science missions and space exploration spacecraft.”
