Nasa announced on Monday it had eliminated the office of its chief scientist and shuttered two other departments including one covering diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA), as Donald Trump’s federal ‘efficiency’ crusade cut deep into the US space agency.
The office of technology, policy and strategy that advises Nasa on important leadership decisions was also shuttered and an unspecified number of workers laid off, according to a memo to employees signed by Janet Petro, Nasa’s acting administrator.
Petro painted the reductions, which she previewed in a January memo that claimed DEI programs were divisive, wasteful and shameful, as “a thoughtful approach that aligns with both administration priorities and our mission needs”.
Analysts, however, are likely to closely scrutinize the apparent juxtaposition of axing the DEIA branch of the agency’s office of diversity, equity and inclusion in particular, given that it comes as Nasa is still touting its desired objective of landing the first woman and first person of color on the moon onboard its Artemis rockets in the coming few years.
Petro, whose leadership position is soon likely to be taken over by the billionaire Jared Isaacman, Trump’s pick for Nasa administrator, urged workers to “embrace the challenge” as the cutbacks take effect.
She said the actions were taken in advance of a forthcoming and more comprehensive agency “reduction in [work]force and reorganization plan” resulting from Trump’s executive orders for cutbacks and the purging of DEI initiatives and programs at federal agencies.
“We’re viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce, ensuring we are doing what is statutorily required of us, while also providing American citizens with an efficient and effective agency,” Petro wrote.
“I know this news is difficult and may affect us all differently. Change of this magnitude is never easy, but our strength comes from our shared commitment to our mission and each other.”
Many will see the elimination of Nasa’s office of the chief scientist as an abrupt U-turn in the agency’s climate policy, and another attack by conservatives on science and evidence-based decision making.
The agency’s current chief scientist and senior climate adviser, Dr Kate Calvin, was appointed in January 2022 by the then Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator.
“Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing our nation and our planet. Nasa is a world leader in climate and Earth science,” she said at the time.
She took a senior role in advising Nasa leadership of all aspects of its science programs and science-related strategic planning and investments, especially as they relate to the climate emergency and actions of humans on global warming and rising sea temperatures.
The closure of the DEIA office represents a similar reversal in policy for an agency that as recently as September was promoting its partnership with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to increase engagement and equity for underrepresented students in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
After succeeding Nelson, Petro insisted in January that such programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination”.
The third Nasa office cut on Monday – technology, policy and strategy – was established in 2021 within the office of the administrator to “bring together diverse, multidisciplinary experts to provide Nasa leadership with analytic, strategic, and decisional insights”.
It housed the agency’s chief technologist and chief economist, and its analysis of Nasa policies was recognized as a critical check and balance.
Immediate reaction to the cutbacks on social media was largely critical.
In a post to X, Grant Tremblay, an astrophysicist at the Harvard & Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, conceded Nasa was in need of some reform, but wholesale elimination of departments was excessive.
“Nasa is small, but it is arguably the most legendary and globally beloved agency in American history. Its gutting has begun and the cuts to come are so massive that we won’t recognize it in a year,” he wrote.
“Many of these cuts are likely to be essentially irreversible. It’s hard to build something great from a pile of ash and rubble. The people you lose will not come back. When you lose a lead, you never recover it. Memory lost is lost for good.”
