With an open letter Monday addressed to the American people, nearly 2,000 scientists sounded the alarm on U.S. President Donald Trump's "wholesale assault" on science—warning that his administration's actions threaten the talent pipeline for the country's future scientists, the nation's "scientific edge," and more.
The 1,900 scientists are all elected members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine—a private, nongovernmental institution established by Congress in the 19th century that aims to "provide independent, objective advice to inform policy with evidence"—though speaking out as individuals in the letter and not the organizations for which they work, the signers represent some of the country's foremost scientists, engineers, and medical researchers.
"For over 80 years, wise investments by the U.S. government have built up the nation's research enterprise, making it the envy of the world," the scientists wrote. "Astoundingly, the Trump administration is destabilizing this enterprise by gutting funding for research, firing thousands of scientists, removing public access to scientific data, and pressuring researchers to alter or abandon their work on ideological grounds."
"We see real danger in this moment," they added. "We are sending this SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation's scientific enterprise is being decimated."
Since Trump returned to the White House, funding for the National Institutes of Health—the largest biomedical research funding provider in the country—has plummeted by more than $3 billion compared with grants issued during the same period in 2024, according to The Washington Post.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also announced last week that it intends to lay off 10,000 full-time employees at the department in order to restructure the agency under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Also last week, HHS canceled more than $12 billion in federal funding for state health departments across the nation, money used to track infectious diseases and provide mental health services, addiction treatment, and other critical care.
Meanwhile, the administration has also cut funding on research into specific areas, like vaccine access and HIV/AIDs prevention in young people.
Robert Steinbrook, the health research group director at the watchdog Public Citizen, said Monday the open letter should be "a wake-up call for our leading scientific and medical organizations to show courage and speak out at this critical moment."
According to the scientists, "a climate of fear" has permeated the research community since Trump returned to the White House.
"Although some in the scientific community have protested vocally, most researchers, universities, research institutions, and professional organizations have kept silent to avoid antagonizing the administration and jeopardizing their funding," they wrote.
The scientists are urging the public speak out against the Trump administration's "assault" on science and called on people to contact their lawmakers in Congress about the matter.
"The voice of science must not be silenced," they wrote. "We all benefit from science, and we all stand to lose if the nation's research enterprise is destroyed."
