In an email seen and reported by the Reuters news agency, NASA’s acting administrator Janet Petro told employees on March 10 that three offices would be closed — including that of Chief Scientist Katherine Calvin and Chief Technologist A.C. Charania.
The closures will affect 23 employees in the Office of the Chief Scientist, the Office of Science, Policy, and Strategy, and the diversity, equity and inclusion branch within the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.
The cuts are seen as part of an efficiency drive by the new administration of President Donald Trump, who returned to office in January.
Trump’s previous executive orders have included a withdrawal from the World Health Organization and cuts to US development aid, through USAID.
Implementing Trump’s executive orders
Petro said in the email that NASA was working with government officials to implement Trump’s executive orders, which, among other things, directed government agencies to reduce and reorganize their workforces. Trump has signed 87 executive orders since taking office on January 20.
Along with the cuts to personnel, the US government has also directly targeted scientific work. On March 9, the US military said it would cancel more than 90 scientific studies into defense threats posed by climate change.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X that the Department of Defense “does not do climate change crap.”
A third of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Space Commerce was laid off earlier this month.
Chief scientist cut not unprecedented
Calvin was appointed as NASA’s chief scientist in 2022 by the former administration of President Joe Biden — with a specific focus on climate change.
NASA has had chief scientists since 1982. Their role is to advise the agency’s administrator and, as the American Association for the Advancement of Science described it on science.org March 10, “keep the voice of science prominent.”
But the role has not always been filled. It has previously laid vacant in the years 1997-1999, under President Bill Clinton, from 2005-2011 under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama and in 2017, again under Obama.
Edited by: Fred Schwaller
