Erasing Science From The National Science Foundation
Keith’s note: The current Administration’s erasure of science across various government agencies is being dialed up. NOAA has been hit. Now NSF is getting whacked. And you should know NASA is not going to escape. According to this AAAS/Science article: NSF faces radical shake-up as officials abolish its 37 divisions: “The National Science Foundation (NSF), already battered by White House directives and staff reductions, is plunging into deeper turmoil. According to sources who requested anonymity for fear of retribution, staff were told today that the agency’s 37 divisions—across all eight NSF directorates—are being abolished and the number of programs within those divisions will be drastically reduced. The current directors and deputy directors will lose their titles and might be reassigned to other positions at the agency or elsewhere in the federal government.” House Science Committee Democrats are weighing in on NSF issues as well: (below)
House Science Committee Members Demand Answers from NSF on Award Terminations and Reckless Policy Actions: “Today, Members of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a letter to Brian Stone, Acting Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF). In the letter, the Members detail the turmoil that has taken place at NSF since the Trump administration began, including the termination of awards that total over one billion dollars. The Members demand answers on how decisions are being made at NSF and call into question the legality of the actions the Trump administration has taken at the agency.
“Within 24 hours, from May 1 to May 2, 2025, NSF crossed the billion-dollar mark of terminated awards, froze all funding actions with no indication of duration, and announced the implementation of a 15% cap on indirect costs for new awards,” the Members wrote in the letter. “Mere months ago, each of these individual decisions would have been an unprecedented shock. Today, President Trump has made this chaos and destruction commonplace. However, we refuse to accept this as our new reality, and we demand answers on how these decisions are being made at NSF.”
Related postings
- NSF Director Resigns Over Budget and Staff Cuts, earlier post
- Rethinking The Science Priorities At NSF, earlier post
- NSF Science Grant Awards Are Being Frozen, earlier post
- NSF Deletes Multiple Internal Advisory Committees, earlier post
- A Perfect Storm: Brutal NASA Science Cuts, earlier post
- NASA FY 2026 Budget Amputation Highlights, earlier post
- Happy Birthday Hubble Space Telescope! Time To Slash Your Budget, earlier post
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For what it’s worth, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked (for two weeks) such layoffs / closures /reorganizations. Her ruling specifically includes the NSF as one of the organizations covered. She stated that such efforts must likely require Congressional authorization, and she therefore bloked any further efforts by the administration in order to provide the plaintiffs (those seeking to stop the administration) time to file for a preliminary injunction. Judging from the ruling, it seems fairly likely she’ll approve such an injunction to allow time for a full hearing.