Research & Developments is a blog for brief updates that provide context for the flurry of news regarding law and policy changes that impact science and scientists today.
National Science Foundation employees are among the latest federal scientists to issue a statement expressing concern over the Trump administration’s actions. The statement refers to “a series of politically motivated and legally questionable actions by the Administration that threaten the integrity of the NSF.”
As reported by Science, 149 NSF employees signed the petition—48 of them by name, and the rest anonymously. Fears of reprisal are not unfounded. In June, hundreds of scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published similar letters, in coordination with the organization Stand Up for Science. Just days after the EPA scientists issued their statement, about 140 of them were placed on administrative leave. NASA employees published a similar open letter on 21 July.
According to Chemistry World, NSF was set to coordinate with Stand Up for Science deliver a letter called “The Alexandria Declaration” on 14 July, but it was placed on indefinite hold. The statement that was issued on 22 July was released by U.S. House of Representatives Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), in coordination with the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), to House Science Committee Democrats.
The eight concerns laid out in the statement are similar to those in statements from other agencies. They are:
- The proposed FY2026 budget, which includes a 56% cut to NSF’s budget.
- The termination of more than 1,600 active NSF grants “using undisclosed criteria devised by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)”
- Political review of scientific grants, which “contradicts the founding vision of NSF as an apolitical agency.”
- The withholding of $2.2 billion of the foundation’s FY2025 appropriation.
- The termination of 10% of NSF’s workforce, many of which “lacked due process or legal justification.”
- A loss of expertise in the form of early retirement or resignation, caused by “fear of retaliation, lack of job stability, and abrupt RTO [return to office] orders.”
- An unannounced eviction from the agency’s headquarters to make way for the Office of Housing and Urban Development
- The retroactive extension of probationary periods from one to two years, which “undermines scientific integrity, guts merit-based employment, and invites fraud, waste, and abuse.”
“What’s happening at the National Science Foundation is a five-alarm fire,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a press conference about the statement. “Career scientists and civil servants are being fired without cause, billions in research funding is being unlawfully withheld, and politically motivated interference is dismantling one of our most respected scientific agencies. This isn’t reform—it’s sabotage. If they can do this to NSF, no agency is safe.”
—Emily Dieckman (@emfurd.bsky.social), Associate Editor
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