A new survey of 63,000 scientific experts across 16 federal agencies reveals that as the Trump administration continues to brazenly attack national environmental regulations, it is also “sidelining science” within agencies, with staffers reporting issues including “censorship and self-censorship, political interference in scientists’ work, low morale, decreased agency effectiveness, and dwindling resources.”

“When federal scientists can’t carry out their work, it’s the public that suffers.”
—Charise Johnson, UCS

Partnering with the Center for Survey Statistics and Methodology at Iowa State University, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) conducted the survey in February and March of 2018, after spending more than a year documenting the federal government’s “abysmal” record on science policy since President Donald Trump took office.

UCS compiled the responses into a report (pdf) that outlines how “federal scientists are doing the best they can, but many report that they lack the resources and institutional support to inform agency decisions most effectively.”

Many said they feel agency “leadership, including officials lacking scientific expertise, are wasting taxpayer dollars through counterproductive reorganizations and clampdowns on scientists’ ability to share their knowledge with the public.”

Among those surveyed, the report states there is also widespread concern that “science-based federal agencies are losing critical expertise and capacity due to early retirements, buyouts, sustained hiring freezes, and other departures of scientists from government service.”