NOAA employees install a tide gauge near Castle Cape, Alaska.

NOAA employees install a tide gauge near Castle Cape, Alaska. Personnel of NOAA Ship RAINIER

'Not Even Invited Into the Room:' How the Trump Administration Is Treating Federal Scientists

When Trump was elected, federal scientists were worried. Two years later, their fears are being realized.

These days at the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters, employees are feeling resigned, hoping for a best-case scenario of simply flying under the radar.

“People want to stay on the straight and narrow,” said Sharon Bethune, an EPA employee of 37 years. “Come in, do your job. Just don’t cause any waves.”

Employees at science-based federal agencies across government have voiced concern about potential interference with their work since Donald Trump was first elected. Two years later, many of those employees are feeling targeted at an accelerating rate. The workers have been forced to roll back previously completed projects, faced shrinking workforces and heard their scientific assumptions questioned from the White House on down. Morale, they told Government Executive in a series of recent interviews, is at an all-time low and getting worse, with employees feeling disenchanted, disempowered and skeptical about the value of their public service.

“Management is getting bolder,” Bethune said, noting career workers feel they are walking on eggshells as political appointees look for any excuse to show civil servants the door.

Meddling From Political Appointees

The Union of Concerned Scientists conducted a survey earlier this year that found many federal employees in scientific jobs were feeling stymied by censorship and interference from political appointees. About 20 percent of respondents said that influence of political appointees, or of the White House itself, was a top barrier to science-based decision-making. And 50 percent of scientists surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that political considerations are hindering agencies’ ability to make science-based decisions. Nearly one in three respondents reported that the presence of “senior decision makers…from regulated industries” has inappropriately influenced agencies' actions. At EPA, that figure was 70 percent.

Andrew Rosenberg, the director of the Center for Science and Democracy at UCS, said the concerns he has heard from federal scientists are regarding both interference with and complete disregard of scientific work. Many of the political appointees at scientific agencies, he said, have demonstrated a lack of understanding of the research employees conduct. This has led to employees asking themselves, “Can I still be effective or should I go do something else?” Rosenberg said. In many cases, according to Rosenberg and the employees across government who spoke to Government Executive, they are finding a new place to work.

“It’s hard when you’ve spent a significant fraction of your career working on topics you really care about,” said Rosenberg, a former deputy director of the National Marine Fisheries Service at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that ultimately get “pushed aside by political appointees.” In some cases, rules were written and career scientists who have dedicated years to the topic at hand “were not even invited into the room,” Rosenberg added. “Nobody’s interested in what they have to say.”

Lee Stone, who has a Ph.D. in neuroscience and has worked at NASA for nearly three decades, said in his capacity as western area vice president for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers that things have take a noticeable turn.

“In the first time in decades of public service, there is a sense that people can reach down from the very top and screw with you,” Stone said. “I think that’s never been the case before.”

He added: “The general sense of fear is much more acute.”

Shrinking Resources

Another recent concern for EPA employees is a decision by the Justice Department to close its Environment and Natural Resources Division office in San Francisco. The office litigates on behalf of EPA’s Region 9 after it takes a civil enforcement action. Justice cited expensive real estate to justify the closure, while also noting most of the employees in the ENR division are located in Washington, D.C., and Denver.

California Democrats in Congress, however, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, said in a letter to Justice that the closure “appears to be part of a broader agenda to undermine enforcement of environmental laws in the United States.” They noted the success the office had in reaching a $2 billion settlement with Volkswagen after the car company was found to be secretly violating emissions standards. The lawmakers asked for documents and analysis that went into the closure decision, including any increased costs resulting from employees having to travel to California to litigate cases.

Mark Sims, who works in enforcement at EPA’s San Francisco-based Region 9, said even before the Justice announcement that morale at the office had taken a big hit. The region has absorbed staffing cuts after a round of buyouts and early retirement offers—Sims said the office was “hemorrhaging experience”—and uncertainty about staffing and budget levels has persisted. The recent announcement has added to the pile.

The Justice attorneys in San Francisco are about one-quarter of a mile from his office, Sims said, which has provided a big advantage. Their move “takes away immediate access” and “makes it hard to have communications.” He added the attorneys will now have to fly out from Denver every time his office has to make court filings, and in a tight budget environment, that could spell less enforcement.

EPA has seen its workforce shrink by 6 percent, or 1,000 employees, since Trump took office. Other large science agencies, such as NASA, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, have endured smaller cuts of about 1 percent each.

An Uncertain Future

John Kelly retired from NOAA last month after 45 years largely for personal reasons, but said when he left a lot of things at his office in Honolulu, Hawaii, were “up in the air.” There were rumors his office would be folded into another program.

The employees he managed had calmed down somewhat from their initial post-election panic, Kelly said, but “they are still concerned about Trump and what he’s going to end up doing.” He said the political appointees at NOAA have meddled in some of the work at his former office, including by getting rid of regulations.

“This stuff is long term and it has deep ramifications,” Kelly said, “and to just willy nilly say, ‘Well we’re not going to do that anymore’...That was a concern.”

His young staffers have grown increasingly frustrated, he said, after observing the ease with which their work could be undone.

Like Kelly, Sims said the regulatory rollbacks have left employees feeling disenchanted. His office, for example, has dealt with the possibility of EPA rolling back a mercury and air toxics rule it worked on implementing. EPA has pursued an aggressive deregulatory agenda, while also disbanding two of its science advisory committees and replacing the scientists on others. Sims said his colleagues have actually gotten along well with the political appointees in his office and “all the aches” have instead come from headquarters.

Satisfaction with EPA as an organization dropped 16 percent this year, according to the government's annual Federal Employee Viewpoint survey. Rosenberg, another former NOAA employee and the current Union of Concerned Scientists leader, said feedback has varied by agency. Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration, for example, have reported a good working relationship with their political appointees compared to those at EPA or the Interior Department. EPA employees rejoiced when former Administrator Scott Pruitt, who was largely seen by the workforce as adversarial to the agency’s agenda, resigned, said Bethune, the EPA headquarters employee, and are now in “wait-and-see mode” with regard to acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler. Trump said Friday that he plans to nominate Wheeler as the permanent administrator.   

Rosenberg said he worries most about the long-term fallout of the sidelining of federal scientists. Employees are heading for the exits, despite UCS’ efforts to shine a spotlight on the value of their work, and the next generation of researchers are not finding their way into government at all. Even long-time employees are reinvigorated when a new crop of talent enters their agency with fresh ideas and energy, he said, but the administration is “starving many of these agencies” of that opportunity.

Kelly called his employees “a credit to the federal system” for their commitment to get the job done no matter the conditions surrounding them. When he left, he told his workers not to panic. He still keeps in touch with them, and they have since told him that administration officials have instructed them not to work on certain issues. He advised them to fight back where they could and to otherwise maintain their focus on the job at hand, noting his repeated efforts over the last two years to convince his youngest employees not to leave federal service.  

“Don’t go to the edge of the cliff and jump,” Kelly told his former employees.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.