NASA terminates top scientist role as it begins its DOGE restructuring that will see 3 departments shut down
NASA begins restructuring following budget cuts that will see three of its departments shut down.
The US space agency has been targeted with budget threats and layoffs this week, as ordered by the Trump administration and the Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE), putting its entire future at stake.
Now, the agency is officially moving forward with its restructuring effort as part of the Trump administration's wider goal to reduce the federal workforce, as per an email reviewed by Business Insider.
In an email sent out on Monday (10 March), Acting Administrator Janet Petro confirmed that NASA will eliminate three departments as part of its restructuring.
Advert
“We will close NASA's Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility branch in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, along with reducing their workforce,” she said.
Petro added that those who had been impacted by the changes were 'valued members' of NASA whose work has been a major contributor to recent successes.
“I know this news is difficult and may affect us all differently," Petro continued. "Change of this magnitude is never easy, but our strength comes from our shared commitment to our mission and each other. I remain grateful for your professionalism and resilience, and I encourage you to support one another as we move forward. Embrace the Challenge."
The announcement comes at the same time the Trump administration is considering cutting 1,000 jobs at the space science agency.
As it currently stands, NASA is made up of around 18,000 employees.
If this goes ahead, experts warn that they could weaken the agency’s ability to conduct deep space exploration efforts and harm where the US stands in the space race.
Understandably, the mass layoffs have caused outrage within the scientific community online.
“These are talented people who believe in the job they are doing, and firing them is absolutely NOT the way to help our country,” Johns Hopkins University Assistant Professor Dr. Meredith MacGregor wrote on the platform BlueSky.
“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,” added Dr. Grant Tremblay, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, on X. “Many of these cuts are likely to be essentially irreversible, point of no return...“
While NASA had initially been at risk of losing up to 10% of its workforce, the White House reportedly paused mass layoffs last month.
If implemented, those cuts would have reduced NASA’s staff to its lowest level since 1961.