Darío Gil, the agency’s top science official, rejected the idea that its science mission has suffered, noting that much of the department’s work is done by 17 national laboratories, where most staff are not federal employees and so not affected by DOGE’s staff-reduction programs. He said the agency is hiring.
“Staffing is always a challenge” Dr. Gil said. “We continue to recruit good people.”
He added that the goal of Genesis is to double the productivity of America’s science industry within a decade. The program has selected almost 300 projects to fund at universities, private companies, national labs and other research organizations.
“The outcome we seek,” Dr. Gil said, “is that this transformation impacts the entire American economy.”
In July, just a few weeks after the Pentagon published its warning about defense labs, Mr. Kratsios, the White House science adviser, issued a report of his own.
The document emphasized many of the administration’s goals: Increasing the role of private industry in federal research. Bypassing the traditional peer-review process for deciding who gets research grants, instead giving individual reviewers the chance “to make bold scientific bets” on researchers of their choosing. Redirecting more money toward younger researchers.
Mr. Kratsios barely mentioned a crucial part of the administration’s agenda: a proposed rule issued by the Trump administration this past May, which would require that Mr. Trump’s political appointees approve which researchers get funding — taking power away from nonpartisan science officials who have typically been the deciders.
Under the proposal, researchers seeking funds “should commit to complying with administration policies.” Officials would screen and reject applications for projects that “promote anti-American values.”
The day after Mr. Kratsios released his report, he appeared before the House science committee to discuss it. Some committee members seemed perplexed by his promise to usher in a scientific golden age, given the tumult over the previous year and a half.
“All I see is tarnish and deterioration,” said Representative Gabe Amo, Democrat of Rhode Island. “Do you commit to not leaving our scientific apparatus in shambles?”
“I don’t think, sir, I would be doing my job if I wanted to leave the scientific enterprise in shambles,” Mr. Kratsios responded. “So I will commit to not doing that.”
www.nytimes.com