In the United States, less than two months into the new Trump Administration, many government agencies are scrubbing their websites of references to climate change, diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI), and gender, among other terms.
The Administration has also laid off thousands of civil servants working for the federal government, including many doing consequential scientific research. These agencies include the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Nuclear Science Administration (NNSA), and the Department of Agriculture (USDA). The US is a leader in research globally and collaborates extensively with global partners to monitor disease outbreaks, ocean temperatures, critical technologies, and more.
Trump’s actions have gone largely unchecked by Congress and the judiciary, potentially relegating the US to the sidelines in global research leadership.
According to the National Science Foundation, “Researchers in the United States collaborated with international partners on 40% of their articles in 2022.” Given the new guidelines for censorship related to climate change and DEI, international researchers may find it difficult to trust the scientific rigor of American scientists receiving funding from US federal grants.
Western scientific standards have long been marked by openness and a commitment to following the facts wherever they lead. However, politicizing data analysis takes away from its exacting nature. Cuts to the federal workforce have gutted agencies doing consequential scientific research, and the downstream effects have already been felt.
Donald Trump has tasked Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and cut the federal workforce significantly. Musk has wasted no time in doing so.
The Federal Aviation Administration was gutted, which some attribute to a chilling uptick in recent plane crashes. Critical nuclear scientists who oversee America’s nuclear weapons stockpile at the National Nuclear Science Administration were wrongfully terminated and now cannot be contacted for rehire after being locked out of their government email addresses.
Even some avian flu experts were let go despite a dire H5N1 outbreak decimating chicken populations and even infecting cows.
The actions have left career civil servants, who believed their positions were secure, in a state of shock. Many fear what will happen to their work. After the US Agency for International Development (USAID) was shut down and all its funding frozen, despite Congressional approval for disbursement, many former employees fear things like Ebola outbreaks and spikes in HIV infections and deaths as high-risk populations are now going without life-saving treatments.
The scientific community has pushed back, protesting with ‘Stand Up for Science,’ taking legal action against wrongful terminations, and speaking to the media about what could happen should their research be abandoned.
On February 19, hundreds of protesters gathered outside of the Health and Human Services Building in Washington, DC, to protest cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “the largest public funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world.” They held signs reading “Science Saves Lives” and “NIH Funds Heart Disease Research.”
On LinkedIn, many civil servants are discussing their own terminations or those of their colleagues. One federal employee who works for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) but spoke as an individual and not as a representative of their employer wrote:
> “Firing the next generation of US federal research leaders does not serve the country, humanity, or the planet… Science advances by researchers like us relentlessly challenging the status quo: you win at science by changing the paradigm, not by jumping on a bandwagon.”
As the Trump administration takes the tech startup approach to governing known as “move fast and break things,” longtime global partners are looking on with horror and aiming to recalibrate their geopolitical relationships.
Scientific research collaboration with partners that value openness and rigor has been robust for decades, but the administration’s new direction may diminish the US’s standing.
President Trump seems to be taking direction from Project 2025, a blueprint for dismantling the US government, created by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Despite Trump initially distancing himself from the leaked document in the months before the election, he has taken actions in lockstep with the plan, including promoting offshore oil and gas drilling in protected areas of Alaska and removing the US from global climate commitments—Trump once again withdrew the US from the Paris Climate Agreement.
The US Federal government is being reshaped at breakneck speed, leaving long-respected institutions gutted and causing a significant brain drain with unpredictable consequences.
Focus on so-called merit over diversity, censorship of words and ideas, and the removal of experienced professionals from decision-making processes at the highest levels within agencies is demoralizing the workforce and alarming global partners.
America’s standing within the scientific community may be falling fast and hard. Trust takes years to build and seconds to crumble.
Photo: Elon Musk has been appointed by President Donald Trump to lead DOGE and significantly cut the federal workforce.. (Credit: Daniel Oberhaus/Flickr commons)
