President Donald Trump continues to support dramatic government staffing cuts, and next on the list are some of the world's best scientists who have been working at the National Institute of Health.
Rolling Stone reported on Friday that new Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could gut NIH.
About 65% of NIH employees have annual or multi-year contracts, and about 35% have university-style tenure.
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Sources told Rolling Stone that the cuts aren't being done with the "scalpel" that Trump said speaking to the media allowed to gather in the Oval Office Thursday. As the Daily Beast characterized, Trump promised there wouldn't be any more chainsaws taken to the staffing.
The cuts will begin with only a few dozen scientists, and further scientists will not have their contracts renewed.
"The NIH is best known for funding a broad spectrum of research science at universities with approximately $40 billion in annual grants. But it also runs its own government labs, with the main campus in Bethesda, Maryland, with a $5 billion annual budget," the report said.
There are contract researchers with decades of experience working on cures and treatments for chronic diseases. They range from cancer to diabetes to obesity and dementia.
The report, citing NIH sources, said Kennedy wants these privatized, with corporations taking over the work for profit rather than public service.
"NIH has been able to attract, previously, people that are held at the highest esteem, internationally, by their peers," one tenured NIH scientist told Rolling Stone. They fear retribution and asked not to be named.
"You don't get a great salary — but you do it because you love science," he explained. The benefit has been "job security and the confidence to explore your ideas. That's all being eroded."
He lamented no one feels any job security now, much less respect for their research.
Rolling Stone said that it's had an impact on staffers who will remain.
"It's a snowball effect. It signals the end of research [inside NIH]," the scientist said. "Who is going to want to join a career like that?"
There's also an immigration issue. Many scientists who are from other countries are in the U.S. working at NIH on H-1 B visas. So, if their positions are terminated, they'll be sent back to their home countries. It ultimately means a "brain drain" not just for the federal government, but for the country as a whole, the report said.
When he came into office, Trump created the Department of Government Efficiency by executive order. That initiative has been behind the upheaval and dismantling of government agencies. Websites, grants, programs, and employees have been cut or frozen under the promise that Trump will save taxpayers trillions.