{"id":370202,"date":"2025-03-15T18:02:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T17:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370202"},"modified":"2025-03-15T18:02:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-15T17:02:54","slug":"nasa-jettisons-climate-advisor-dei-branch-and-other-drags-on-space-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=370202","title":{"rendered":"NASA Jettisons \u2018Climate Advisor,\u2019 DEI Branch, and Other Drags on Space Program"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Watts Up With That?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legal Insurrection<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real space missions are back on the menu!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posted by Leslie Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time I wrote about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) together, agency staffers were begging<\/a> President Donald Trump\u2019s DOGE chairman Elon Musk to \u2018clean house\u2019, as insiders revealed the agency squandered millions of taxpayer money on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their wish has been grante<\/a>d, and less than 100 days into Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Janet Petro, the acting director of NASA, announced the move Monday in a memo to staff obtained by USA TODAY, calling it a \u201cphased reduction in force\u201d that is \u201coccurring in advance\u201d of a Thursday deadline for agencies to submit layoff plans to the government\u2019s human resources arm.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

The memo did not disclose how many NASA jobs will be cut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cuts will close NASA\u2019s Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; the Office of the Chief Scientist; and the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility branch within the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity, the memo said. The agency would also reduce the workforce in the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The mainstream media may decry the axe of the \u201cChief Scientist,\u201d but that \u201cscientist\u201d was actually a climate advisor<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real space missions are back on the menu<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

The cuts affect about 20 employees at NASA, including Katherine Calvin, the chief scientist and a climate science expert. The last day of work for Dr. Calvin and the other staff members will be April 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That could be a harbinger of deeper cuts to NASA\u2019s science missions and a greater emphasis on human spaceflight, especially to Mars. During President Trump\u2019s address to Congress last week, he said, \u201cWe are going to lead humanity into space and plant the American flag on the planet Mars and even far beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Change!!!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

NASA chief scientist Katherine Calvin among 20+ staff laid off under Trump admin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes signal potential NASA shift from climate science toward human spaceflight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military also cutting 90+ studies labeled \u201cclimate change crap\u201d by Defense Sec Hegsethhttps:\/\/t.co\/7bg6DdH17C<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 George P (@PrinceGeorgeK) March 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) branch and<\/a> another department are also closing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

NASA\u2019s Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, meanwhile, was only established in 2021 and serves as the home for the space agency\u2019s chief economist and chief technologist, who provide the administrator \u201cwith analytic, strategic, and decisional insights in the form of quick-turn analyses, memos, and reports,\u201d according to its website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The third NASA office targeted, coordinating the agency\u2019s DEIA efforts, was also the least surprising, as President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has declared it would eliminate such efforts across the government.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What is perhaps most interesting about this news is that this is the agency\u2019s first round of layoffs<\/a>, and the firings targeted senior leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

These are NASA\u2019s first firings since Trump took office, and they have taken a different pattern to those at other federal agencies in the past few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NASA was spared, for unknown reasons, from the extensive lay-offs of probationary employees \u2014 those with little job protection because they have been in their positions for less than two years \u2014 seen at other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move makes NASA the first agency under the current Trump administration to pre-emptively fire career employees, beginning the required \u2018reductions in force\u2019 (RIFs) sooner than many observers had anticipated. It remains unclear whether other agencies might follow NASA\u2019s lead.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\n

Reductions in workforce at NASA have begun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Divisions closed include Office of the Chief Scientist; the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; and the DEI branch of its Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With their senior climate leadership shown the door, it will\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/Ia0OgV9ric<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014 Chris Martz (@ChrisMartzWX) March 11, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Legal Insurrections readers may recall that Trump selected billionaire, astronaut, and hero of the \u201cPolaris\u201d mission Jared Isaacman to lead <\/a>NASA. His confirmation is still sitting in the US Senate, and no date has been set for the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I suspect that when Isaacman arrives for his first day as NASA Director, he will find a wonderfully refocused agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last time I wrote about the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) together,\u00a0agency staffers were begging\u00a0President Donald Trump\u2019s DOGE chairman Elon Musk to \u2018clean house\u2019, as insiders revealed the agency squandered millions of taxpayer money on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":370206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831890,691831558,691825043,691833487],"class_list":{"0":"post-370202","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","8":"tag-department-of-government-efficiency-doge","9":"tag-national-aeronautics-and-space-administration-nasa","10":"tag-taxpayer-money","11":"tag-us-president-donald-j-trump","13":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/00Screenshot-2025-03-15-175901.png?fit=1150%2C815&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1yj0","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":365663,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=365663","url_meta":{"origin":370202,"position":0},"title":"Hurricane DOGE Sweeps into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"NOAA tied to dodge the Trump DEI Executive Order, so now it is being audited by Elon Musk\u2019s team\u2026and their quest is upsetting social justice warriors and climate cultists.","rel":"","context":"In \"Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)\"","block_context":{"text":"Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=department-of-government-efficiency-doge"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0doge-thumb-1200x620-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/0doge-thumb-1200x620-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C628&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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change as the \"greatest con job ever.\"","rel":"","context":"In \"Climate change\"","block_context":{"text":"Climate change","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-change"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQOh1Qpv6cGoASxwQQfc6AB-cWoUAVmAbRuSF00EcctkH0x-8wHwOQPecT-flUjtyc9JdDFv7WVNPTSX7p-nOS1nVaaoINl5QQbx9WjdmQ1qc1spaj9AMp_WX96BgOn9-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0AQOh1Qpv6cGoASxwQQfc6AB-cWoUAVmAbRuSF00EcctkH0x-8wHwOQPecT-flUjtyc9JdDFv7WVNPTSX7p-nOS1nVaaoINl5QQbx9WjdmQ1qc1spaj9AMp_WX96BgOn9-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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shop","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"13\/04\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Claiming no privileged information, this writer is enormously optimistic that incoming Trump pick to head NASA, Jared Isaacman, will terminate funding of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in concert with DOGE waste-cutting, space program redirection, and pro-drilling energy priorities.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate research\"","block_context":{"text":"climate research","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-research"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0jared-isaacman-in-space-suit.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0jared-isaacman-in-space-suit.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, 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Maybe it\u2019s time for NASA to stick to space exploration, NOAA to stick to weather forecasting, and for the climate models to be shut down.\u201d","rel":"","context":"In \"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)\"","block_context":{"text":"carbon dioxide (CO\u2082)","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=carbon-dioxide-co%e2%82%82"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0CMIP5-90-models-global-Tsfc-vs-obs-thru-2013-1536x1382-1.png?fit=1200%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0CMIP5-90-models-global-Tsfc-vs-obs-thru-2013-1536x1382-1.png?fit=1200%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0CMIP5-90-models-global-Tsfc-vs-obs-thru-2013-1536x1382-1.png?fit=1200%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0CMIP5-90-models-global-Tsfc-vs-obs-thru-2013-1536x1382-1.png?fit=1200%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/0CMIP5-90-models-global-Tsfc-vs-obs-thru-2013-1536x1382-1.png?fit=1200%2C1080&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":395694,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=395694","url_meta":{"origin":370202,"position":5},"title":"Cheers! NASA acting dir. Sean Duffy says climate science will \u2018move aside,\u2019 with NASA only focusing on space exploration","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"17\/08\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said Thursday that climate and earth science at the agency will \u201cmove aside\u201d as it refocuses solely on space exploration.","rel":"","context":"In \"climate science\"","block_context":{"text":"climate science","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=climate-science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPrGr2_YgnXNaVkBWvUNE6fKNuirgaLcPLXquUIO0aguh4F_UKdbt4CWlTt4RxEszWsGNO6xMxyikcS4AJMXGfBzUmztS09vE7bK7Qq58TVvfElE5XN2DS_lFb6hrr4DZNiGxJwa6uC_keWlMaff-z4vtQcg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPrGr2_YgnXNaVkBWvUNE6fKNuirgaLcPLXquUIO0aguh4F_UKdbt4CWlTt4RxEszWsGNO6xMxyikcS4AJMXGfBzUmztS09vE7bK7Qq58TVvfElE5XN2DS_lFb6hrr4DZNiGxJwa6uC_keWlMaff-z4vtQcg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPrGr2_YgnXNaVkBWvUNE6fKNuirgaLcPLXquUIO0aguh4F_UKdbt4CWlTt4RxEszWsGNO6xMxyikcS4AJMXGfBzUmztS09vE7bK7Qq58TVvfElE5XN2DS_lFb6hrr4DZNiGxJwa6uC_keWlMaff-z4vtQcg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPrGr2_YgnXNaVkBWvUNE6fKNuirgaLcPLXquUIO0aguh4F_UKdbt4CWlTt4RxEszWsGNO6xMxyikcS4AJMXGfBzUmztS09vE7bK7Qq58TVvfElE5XN2DS_lFb6hrr4DZNiGxJwa6uC_keWlMaff-z4vtQcg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/0AQPrGr2_YgnXNaVkBWvUNE6fKNuirgaLcPLXquUIO0aguh4F_UKdbt4CWlTt4RxEszWsGNO6xMxyikcS4AJMXGfBzUmztS09vE7bK7Qq58TVvfElE5XN2DS_lFb6hrr4DZNiGxJwa6uC_keWlMaff-z4vtQcg-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/121246920"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=370202"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":370208,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370202\/revisions\/370208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/370206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=370202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=370202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=370202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}