Science agency fires 'experts' in name of layoff equity as Trump swamp-draining rolls on

The National Science Foundation canned experts as well as probationary employees this week in response to a call from the Trump administration to reduce the size of the federal workforce.

On Tuesday, 168 of the roughly 1,700 NSF staff members received an email, informing them to stop working at 1 p.m., at which point they would no longer have computer network access. A spokesperson later confirmed the layoffs came in response to the efforts of Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency.

Last week the President issued [an] Executive Order, Implementing the President’s "Department of Government Efficiency" Workforce Optimization Initiative. ... To ensure compliance with this E.O. the National Science Foundation has released 168 employees from Federal service effective today. We thank these employees for their service to NSF and their contributions to advance the agency mission.

However, a report from Politico revealed that the layoffs actually exceeded the demands from the Trump administration and affected more than just probationary employees. According to the outlet, some executives and others at NSF held a contentious meeting Tuesday morning, during which officials determined that the pink slips should be allocated equitably.

"The removal of experts was completely at the agency’s discretion. Because if we’re asked to remove probationers, then we also need to remove at-will employees," chief management officer Micah Cheatham said, per a transcript.

According to Government Executive, these "experts" were part-time employees who specialized in niche areas of study.

'The weather and climate enterprise we know today will not be the same tomorrow.'

Cheatham also warned at the meeting that more layoffs would be coming. "This is the first of many forthcoming workforce reductions," he added.

Director Sethuraman "Panch" Panchanathan apparently did not attend the meeting, prompting outrage, especially from employees on the way out.

"Panch has been conveniently absent throughout this whole time," one NSF employee wrote in an email. "Some of these colleagues will face extreme economic hardship because of this action. Some have changed their careers and upended their lives to come answer the call to service. Our management has failed! If NSFs top leadership has any dignity, they should resign immediately!"

"The Director couldn’t even show up to the 10 AM firing call held for all of us," added a program director.

"You screwed people, hardworking people, who trusted the word of this agency, left their careers, wherever they came from," one person said at the Tuesday meeting. "That’s on all of you. Take some accountability."

"You are presenting us as trophies in front of OPM," the individual continued, referring to the Office of Personnel Management.

The White House and OPM did not respond to a request for comment from Politico.

Congress established NSF in 1950 to help fund research in various scientific fields, especially engineering. In reporting the layoffs, leftist media have mainly touched on the work NSF has done in areas like physics, cybersecurity, astronomy, and artificial intelligence.

However, Axios noted that NSF has also funded "climate research and weather forecasting." It further mentioned that federal agencies in general may soon reduce funding for research on "extreme weather" as a result of DOGE cuts.

"It seems apparent that the weather and climate enterprise we know today will not be the same tomorrow," David Stensrud, president of the American Meteorological Society, said in a statement issued on February 6.

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