Purged By Trump: A National Science Foundation Worker Speaks Out

On Tuesday, leaders at the National Science Foundation reportedly laid off about 170 employees, many via Zoom—an estimated 10 percent of the agency’s workers. One of those workers spoke to Mother Jones, requesting anonymity, about the chaotic and emotional meeting, and what the job losses mean for the $9 billion agency, which is tasked with funding and supporting the country’s academic research. Here’s their account in their own words.

At 9 a.m., we got an email from HR calling us for a meeting at 10 am. There was no agenda offered. But many of us suspected what it was.

Initially, the Zoom invitation listed all of the people who were going to be fired as co-hosts of the meeting, so they sent a second invite. Because of the confusion about which invitation was the correct one, a lot of people joined late. And so, at first, people who came late didn’t hear what the meeting was about.

They told us we were being terminated. People were angry. People were crying. It was just confusing, too. We were told, you could resign or you could be terminated. How do I know what to do? Some people had thought, I had finished my one-year probation. I am not a probationary employee. We were told the agency had made a mistake—it should have been two years, and they’d corrected that.

We had until 1 p.m., when our termination letters would be sent, and we’d be shut out of the system. So by the time the meeting was over, we had about two hours to get any information we needed from our computers and to coordinate handing off our workload to someone else.

Afterward, I think because of the mix-up with Zoom link, people were sent a recording of the meeting. You can hear leadership talking before it starts, and you can hear people in the room laughing. I don’t know what it was about. But it just added to this feeling of disregard for what was taking place.

Then there was the delay. We don’t have your letters ready. It’ll be 2:00 when we send the letter. Then, It’ll be 3:00. Meanwhile, people who haven’t been called into the meeting are finding out about it. Supervisors of people in the meeting did not know about [it]. To me, that is one of the most disturbing pieces of this. It didn’t feel like an agency decision at all. It’s like there was a shadow institution inside or surrounding the agency. Who is making decisions? On what basis are they making decisions?

The paranoia and fear are part of the erosion of our work. Getting emails from people you don’t know. The agency changing your personnel status without informing you. The idea that there’s a list going around of people on probation. Am I on the list? Are you on the list? That’s a straight-up McCarthy-era question.

I think sometimes science is too abstract for the public to immediately recognize the importance of what we do. And that’s not because they can’t. In fact, that’s part of our mission: to create a scientifically literate public who can understand and appreciate how we’re using their taxes to make a positive difference in society.

But the people terminated on Tuesday represent a cross-section of those essential to getting the agency’s work done. They were administrative staff, people who track expenditures, write policy, organize review panels, and ensure conflict of interest policies are being observed. Some were brought on to help the agency run more efficiently. The irony.

In the afternoon, when people were supposed to be leaving, other staff started coming down to the lobby. They applauded people as they left the building. For this spontaneous swell of people to come out like that, it was very moving. It was a demonstration of care and respect that I’d not felt from the agency.

Since being terminated, I feel relieved, to be honest. Part of the relief was knowing cuts were coming and not knowing who or when or how. But I love the agency. I loved working there. I was so proud to work there. And the last month has been so disorienting. I couldn’t recognize NSF’s mission. I didn’t feel that same sense of pride and loyalty and faith.

I’m not most upset about losing my job. It’s more just this feeling of concern for our credibility. Like, what rules are we following? Whose rules are we following?

This conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity. National Science Foundation media officer Mike England provided the following statement:

“Earlier this month, the President issued Executive Order, Implementing the President’s ‘Department of Government Efficiency’ Workforce Optimization Initiative (‘Workforce Optimization E.O.’). To ensure compliance with this E.O., the National Science Foundation released 170 employees from Federal service effective Feb. 18. This action impacted most of our probationary employees and all our employees on expert appointments. We thank these employees for their service to NSF and their contributions to advance the agency mission.

Expert appointments are defined as one year or less, normally on intermittent work schedules. Although appointments may be for one year, individuals may not work more than 130 days in a service year (the 365-day period that begins on the effective date of the appointment).

Of the 170 staff released, 86 were classified probationary, 84 staff were classified as experts.”