Employees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) are going public with concerns about “politically motivated and legally questionable” actions by the Trump administration related to their agency.
Their concerns range from mass firings by the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency to interference with the grant process.
In particular, the employees allege that for grants, “a covert and ideologically driven secondary review process by unqualified political appointees is now interfering with the scientific merit-based review system.”
The accusation and others are detailed in a letter addressed to Rep. Zoe Lofgren (Calif.), the top Democrat on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Lofgren said at a press conference that the letter was being submitted to her office as “a protected whistleblower disclosure.”
It was signed by 149 staffers, virtually all of whom signed either anonymously or whose names were redacted in the version of the letter that was made public on Tuesday.