Nearly 150 employees at the National Science Foundation signed a petition this week denouncing President Donald Trump and his administration for what they said was rampant “politicization and abuse” across scientific agencies.
It was just the latest salvo in an ongoing mutiny across multiple federal scientific research agencies. Similar letters have been sent from employees at the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as a dispatch this week from scientists at NASA titled, “The NASA Voyager Declaration.”
“The sweeping and sudden termination of hundreds of NSF employees this year, including senior staff and those managing Congressionally mandated programs, was not only damaging to the agency’s functioning but appears to violate the letter and spirit of title 5, the body of law establishing the professional, apolitical civil service,” the letter reads. “And is, we would argue, an unlawful impoundment of funds appropriated by Congress to advance American scientific research.”
In the three-page letter to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who serves as ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, employees say the Trump administration’s nearly 56% cut to NSF’s 2026 budget, along with withholding funds, reviewing grants and unlawful terminations, among other factors, “collectively amount to the systemic dismantling of a world-renowned scientific agency.”
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“Without immediate oversight and corrective action from Congress, one of our nation’s greatest engines for scientific and technological advancement faces irreversible long-term damage,” the letter reads. “Put simply, America will forfeit its scientific leadership position to China and other rival nations.”
Of the 149 signees, about one third included their names to emphasize the dire situation, Jesus Soriano, president of NSF’s bargaining unit local 3403, told ScienceInsider, while the rest chose to stay anonymous out of fear of retribution.
In a joint press conference with the American Federation of Government Employees on Tuesday, Lofgren acknowledged receiving the letter and said she would “protect our scientific enterprise.”
“The letter you transmitted to my office yesterday lays out the facts — the NSF, under the direction of President Trump, is taking a sledgehammer to what was once a world-leading scientific agency,” Lofgren said. “And yet, for fear of reprisal, these cold, hard facts are being submitted to my office as a protected whistleblower disclosure.”
AFGE’s president, Everett Kelley, said, “What’s happening at the National Science Foundation is a five-alarm fire.”
“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,” Kelley added at the joint press conference. “This isn’t reform, it’s sabotage.”
The NSF employees aren’t alone in their dissent.
In the letter from EPA staff last month, signees expressed concern that the Trump administration was making decisions based on a political agenda and criticized the president’s plans to scale back various research arms.
“We stand together in dissent against the current administration’s focus on harmful deregulation, mischaracterization of previous EPA actions, and disregard for scientific expertise,” the letter reads.
At NIH, scientists rebuked the cancellation of research on health disparities, LGBTQ+ communities and climate change, while also raising fear over the firing of “nonessential” employees. A court in late June ruled that the cancellations were illegal, ordering NIH to restore terminated grants and halt future terminations.
On Monday, the NIH’s director, Jay Bhattacharya, met for an hour-long, “mostly comfortable and mostly collegial” discussion with 38 employees who signed the NIH petition, according to ScienceInsider.
At the EPA, however, after 270 employees signed a letter to the EPA’s administrator, Lee Zeldin, 144 of them were placed on administrative leave.
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