On Tuesday, the Trump administration cut more than 10% of the workforce at the National Science Foundation, an independent institution supporting cutting edge scientific research, and a wide-ranging purge of federal workers with probation status that began last week. has been added.
Foundation spokesman Michael England said in a statement that the agency had fired 168 probation employees and “we had around 1,450 career employees prior to the cuts.”
However, NSF employees with knowledge of the matter disputed that all those fired on Tuesday were on probation. Speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation, the employee said only about half of the layoffs were probation staff, while the other half affected more senior specialists.
The Trump administration ordered agencies last week to end most of their estimated 200,000 government workers on probation, with mass shootings beginning to pass through the government, with some departments firing more than 1,000 employees at a time I did. Other agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, are preparing to fire thousands more employees this week.
Over the weekend, cuts targeting scientists and public health officials were rattled through civil servants. An estimated 1,200 employees at the National Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Health, have already been denied. NSF employees said they were completely cut in the workforce of 25-50% as those familiar with the issue they spoke about the state of anonymity earlier this month were not authorized to discuss the plan publicly. I was told to expect. .
Workers on probation do not receive the same protections that many other federal employees have. Probationary periods tend to last a year, but they can be longer in certain positions.
The NSF and NIH are two cornerstones of US public research funding. NSF focuses on non-medical science research and supports advanced research into quantum computing, artificial intelligence, space observation, and the creation of new advanced materials used in electronic devices.
The list of scientific breakthroughs achieved through NSF funding is vast, but the foundation is a socially changing invention, including the Internet, smartphones, MRI scans, Lasik ophthalmology, 3D printing, kidney transplants, and lithium-ion batteries. It supports development. Radar, LED lights, and even the language learning app Duolingo.
Coral Davenport contributed the report.
