The system that has driven life-altering discoveries and helped make the United States a superpower is now under intense strain. The Defense Department’s network of research laboratories — whose scientists helped develop satellite communication, radar technology, and even the computer mouse — lost a significant share of staff last year, largely in response to Trump administration efforts to thin the federal workforce. Refilling critical positions proved difficult due to demands that new hires be screened for loyalty to Trump’s goals. The Pentagon warned of “potentially grave consequences for the future of national defense.”
Beyond the Pentagon, the Energy Department lost more than 1,000 scientists and technical staff. The National Science Foundation withheld more than $1 billion in funding. At the National Institutes of Health, officials delayed or canceled more than 2,000 grants to biomedical researchers studying Alzheimer’s, cancer and other diseases. Under Mr. Trump, the federal government still spends roughly as much on research — about $200 billion this year — as prior administrations, but beneath the surface the system is under intense strain.
The damage stems from three pillars of Trump’s agenda: sweeping job cuts and grant cancellations by the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency; pressure on research universities through funding cuts to force ideological policy shifts; and a campaign by budget director Russell T. Vought to impose more political control over congressionally appropriated spending. Courts and lawmakers have partially curbed the impact, but effects have rippled through nearly every facet of the nation’s research machine, including a 21 percent drop in Ph.D. applications from foreign students at leading universities.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing