{"id":13067,"date":"2026-02-13T13:33:35","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T09:33:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=13067"},"modified":"2026-02-13T14:39:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T10:39:07","slug":"new-trump-administration-rule-it-is-becoming-easier-to-dismiss-scientists-working-in-the-public-sector","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/new-trump-administration-rule-it-is-becoming-easier-to-dismiss-scientists-working-in-the-public-sector\/","title":{"rendered":"New Trump administration rule: It is becoming easier to dismiss scientists working in the public sector"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">The administration of U.<\/span><span class=\"\">S.<\/span><span class=\"\"> President Donald Trump has finalized a new rule that will simplify the dismissal of government sector employees,<\/span><span class=\"\"> including scientists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">On February 5,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"19\">Office of Personnel Management (OPM)<\/b><span class=\"\"> approved a new civil service classification titled <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"4\" data-index-in-node=\"107\">&#8220;Policy\/Career.&#8221;<\/b><span class=\"\"> This change affects officials whose work is directly linked to the formation of government policy.<\/span><span class=\"\"> As a result,<\/span><span class=\"\"> they will lose the robust legal protections that previously shielded them from politically motivated termination.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"5\"><span class=\"\">Critics of the decision argue that this status blurs the line between independent professionals and political figures.<\/span><span class=\"\"> They contend that any specialist whose scientific or expert findings contradict the administration&#8217;s course could be dismissed as easily as a member of the political team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"6\"><span class=\"\">The OPM projects that approximately <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"36\">50,000 federal employees<\/b><span class=\"\"> will be reclassified as a result of the reform.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Particular attention is being paid to agencies such as the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"168\">National Science Foundation (NSF)<\/b><span class=\"\"> and the <\/span><b class=\"\" data-path-to-node=\"6\" data-index-in-node=\"210\">National Institutes of Health (NIH)<\/b><span class=\"\">,<\/span><span class=\"\"> where individuals responsible for awarding scientific grants may now fall into this new category.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"7\"><span class=\"\">The administration explains that this move will increase the executive branch&#8217;s accountability to voters and put an end to bureaucrats pursuing their own interests.<\/span><span class=\"\"> However,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the scientific community and professional unions view the decision as political interference in science.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Opponents believe the process will silence critical voices and replace competent professionals with politically loyal personnel.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><span class=\"\">The rule is set to take effect in early March.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Scientists fear that equating grant distribution and scientific expertise with political decision-making will erase the boundary between objective assessment and political propaganda,<\/span><span class=\"\"> thereby threatening the fundamental principles of American science.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"8\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-026-00443-w\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nature<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has finalized a new rule that will simplify the dismissal of government sector employees, including scientists. On February 5, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) approved a new civil service classification titled &#8220;Policy\/Career.&#8221; This change affects officials whose work is directly linked to the formation of government policy. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594],"tags":[4376,3859],"class_list":["post-13067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-public-sector","tag-scientists"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13067"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13070,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions\/13070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}