Trump also purges the independent council that advises the White House on science

BarcelonaDonald Trump's crusade against academia and science does not stop. The US president has summarily dismissed the twenty or so experts on the independent council overseeing the National Science Foundation, the key agency for planning resources allocated to scientific—especially basic—and technical research in the US. Two recently dismissed members of this body—which has a budget equivalent to 8.5 billion euros—have made public that last Friday they received an email sent by the Office of Presidential Personnel, "on behalf of the president," thanking them for "their service" and dismissing them. According to them, "no other argument" was provided.

This is not the first time the Trump administration has attacked the National Science Foundation. For example, it tried to cut its budget in half (to 4.5 billion euros) last year and, although Congress prevented it, it is expected that next year the government will once again put this reduction on the table. Furthermore, the agency has lost more than 30% of its staff since January 2025 and, in December, had to cede its headquarters to another federal agency.

This independent council was created in 1950 to guide the governance of the National Science Foundation and advise the president and Congress on science and engineering policies. It is composed of scientists, engineers, and other experts from academia and industry, as well as from various NGOs, who are appointed every six years, with the aim of defining the foundation's strategy, as well as ensuring oversight and advice to the White House and Congress on science policy. In fact, being quite independent, the body has allowed funds—billions of dollars—to be allocated based on technical criteria and general interest in the form of grants and subsidies to universities and research centers.

According to two affected members, on Friday they were informed that they would be expelled with immediate effect. "The 22 current members of the National Science Council were dismissed on Friday with immediate effect. No reason was given," states one of those affected, Yolanda Gil, who works at the University of Southern California's Information Science Institute, in statements to the Associated Press. "Seeing similar actions by the administration throughout the federal government and especially with regard to scientific research, it seemed only a matter of time," assures Keivan Stassun, another member who works at Vanderbilt University.

Several attempts against the NSF

Since taking office in early 2025, Trump has driven changes that have shaken the scientific system of the United States, one of the most powerful in the world. Since returning to the presidency, he has tried to carry out very significant cuts and has frozen or revised grants to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which has affected projects worth millions of dollars. He has also managed to censor lines of research related to gender perspective, infectious diseases in developing countries —such as HIV— and the climate crisis. All of this has generated concern in the scientific community and has led to a "brain drain" which, although not yet materialized massively, increasingly more researchers are exploring opportunities abroad, especially in the European Union.

In an article published in Nature, the member of the United States House of Representatives for California and the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, Zoe Lofgren, has criticized the measure. "This is the latest stupid maneuver by a president who continues to harm American science and innovation," she says in a statement. "Unfortunately, it is not surprising that a president who has attacked the NSF from day one would try to destroy the board that helps guide the foundation," she concludes.