In the corridors of NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF), where the brightest minds work on tomorrow’s space technology and tackle the world’s most pressing challenges, a sense of unease has taken hold. This week, both agencies saw roughly 10% of their workforce cut, a move that has left employees reeling and raised alarms about the future of U.S. leadership in the world’s arena of science and technology.
The cuts, part of a broader push by the Trump administration to streamline federal agencies, have hit probationary employees hardest — new hires, recent promotions, and those who transferred between agencies in the past one or two years. The terms of their contracts make them easier to fire. However, the people let go include many “expert” employees with specialized backgrounds and longtime employees, whose legal rationale for termination may seem dubious.
At NASA, close to 1,000 employees have been let go, while the NSF dismissed 168 staff members. They were either bluntly fired or accepted the “fork in the road” deal that at least entitled them to some compensation. These reductions come amid warnings of further budget and staffing curtailments, casting a shadow over two institutions that have long been pillars of American innovation. But NASA and NSF aren’t alone.
A Blow to American Science
The dismissals have sparked fears that the U.S. is undermining its own scientific prowess at a time when global competition is intensifying. “If large cuts are applied across agencies, NSF may be crippled in a way that may be unrecoverable,” said one NSF employee, who spoke anonymously out of fear of retribution. “We can’t do this work with a computer; we need true expertise and human intelligence.”
At NASA, the cuts have been equally jarring. The agency, which has inspired generations with its missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, now faces the prospect of losing not just numbers but also the fresh energy and ideas that new hires bring.
“NASA is complying with the guidance and direction provided by OPM [office of personnel management]. It’s premature to discuss the impact to our agency at this time,” the agency said in a statement. But the Planetary Society warned that the cuts could leave NASA with “upwards of 1,000” fewer employees than it had just days ago. It’s not clear how many of NASA’s initial 18,000 employees will be left by the time Elon Musk’s appetite for cutting employee spending is satisfied.
The White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was created by President Trump on Jan. 20 with a mission to slash federal spending. Supporters of DOGE see its efforts as a way to rein in bloated federal spending that far outpaces tax revenue, causing the federal debt to spiral to an all-time high of $36 trillion. Despite its name, DOGE is not a department, but rather a sort of ‘advisory’ office within the White House that operates outside the typical federal checks and balances, including watchdogs like the inspectors general.
Musk said this week that he has saved $55 billion in federal spending so far, but the DOGE website only accounts for $16.6 billion of that, Bloomberg reports. That’s before factoring in an error in the data published on DOGE’s website that mislabels a contract as $8 billion, which was later corrected in the federal database to only be $8 million. It’s likely many other accounting errors have been made by Musk’s team of 20-something-year-old “geniuses” tasked with targeting DOGE cuts.
Uncertain Future
The broader implications are stark. As China ramps up its investments in science and technology, the U.S. risks falling behind in critical areas like climate research, space exploration, and public health. “It seems apparent that the weather and climate enterprise we know today will not be the same tomorrow,” said David Stensrud, president of the American Meteorological Society, following President Trump’s recent executive orders on climate and energy.
The cuts extend beyond NASA and NSF. Agencies like the Energy Department, EPA, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have also seen reductions, leaving many scientists wondering where they will find opportunities to conduct cutting-edge research. The Trump administration is looking to halve the NOAA workforce, according to officials of the agency. The draconian cut would reduce the number of NOAA employees from about 12,000 to 6,000. NOAA provides critical climate and weather information across the U.S. economy.
“We can’t let the political histrionics distract us from our best efforts to foster a resilient science and technology enterprise over the long term,” said Willie May, outgoing president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. “We must remain focused on the long game.”
But the long game is hard to see when the immediate future is so uncertain. The likelihood of a scientific brain drain — where talented researchers seek opportunities abroad — is increasing. And as federal agencies shrink, the U.S. risks losing its edge in fields that are critical to national security, economic growth, and global leadership.
While the cuts have drawn widespread criticism, some argue that agencies like NASA and NSF have areas of inefficiency that need addressing. For example, NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) has cost over $3-4 billion annually for a decade, yet it relies on outdated technology and has been outpaced by private companies like SpaceX. Similarly, the NSF has faced scrutiny over how it allocates its budget.
However, the current approach to cuts — swift, indiscriminate, and lacking in strategic vision — threatens to do more harm than good. “If these future cuts are smart and position NASA for the future, this could all be worth it,” Eric Berger wrote for Ars Technica. “If not, then the beloved agency that dares to explore may never recover.”
For now, the scientific community is left to grapple with the fallout. Some optimistic voices hope that this moment of uncertainty will lead to a more focused and efficient approach to federal science funding. But for those who lost their jobs this week, the future is anything but certain. Their dreams of discovery have been put on hold, and all pretenses of “meritocracy” and “hard work will be rewarded” have been thrown out to the gutter.
The damage done may be irreversible.
