Stories from Fired Federal Scientists

A federal scientist with the Emerging Infectious Disease branch at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research conducts studies in order to find a solution for the COVID-19 Coronavirus.

Disclaimer: This post was written by Dr. Andrew Rosenberg in his personal capacity and not on behalf of any organization or entity. The views expressed herein are Dr. Rosenberg’s and his alone.

President Donald Trump, following a strategy created by Elon Musk and his DOGE team, perpetrated the mass firing of thousands of federal employees. That strategy focused on employees who were vulnerable to dismissal because they were relatively recently hired. It had nothing to do with their performance or the need for their work.

Each of those workers has a story to tell: why they came into public service, their work, and their firing. If you could talk to each one, I am sure it would be emotionally draining, because despite the false rhetoric from the administration around waste and fraud, those who lost their jobs were working to serve the public.

I don’t really do much on social media. But I am on LinkedIn for professional connections. There are many posts in my network from those fired federal employees. Reading them is both poignant and instructive. I won’t link to the posts, but just quote from a few of them here to bring home what has just happened to public service in our country.

Department of Interior: “Hi everyone! I was terminated from the US Fish & Wildlife Service today, where I specialized in Endangered Species Act policy. My focus was Conservation Benefit Agreements and Habitat Conservation Plans.”

Department of Health and Human Services: “30% of Haskell Indian Nations University faculty and staff were laid off today, along with employees at the Indian Health Services on campus. Haskell, despite its painful origins as the United States Industrial Training Institute, has long been a place of international significance—where students, scholars, thinkers, and doers have come together to grow into leaders and changemakers in Indian Country. While the institution has continually faced capacity challenges, recent federal decisions, disguised as ‘cost-cutting’ measures, undermine its mission and are a profound disservice to Tribal nations.”

Department of Agriculture: “As I posted a few months back, I joined USDA Economic Research Service in late September to focus on research on the economics of food loss and waste, food demand and pricing, and food safety. Since I was a probationary employee, my position was terminated along with 2400 other USDA employees yesterday. I received an email at 9 pm on Thursday saying my position had been terminated earlier in the day at close of business. The notification provided no information about receiving a final paycheck or what happens to our healthcare and other benefits.”

Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “This may be surprising but I'm still a probationary employee at NOAA. I spent 13 years as a NOAA contractor before becoming a federal employee. That means a ton of my accomplishments at NOAA that you may know about occurred when I worked for a different company. But it never mattered who I worked for because all I have ever cared about is using whatever talents I have to help others. And that is what NOAA is all about.

I've wanted to work at NOAA since I was in elementary school. And that is not a unique story here. I've met so many marine biologists, meteorologists, climate scientists, oceanographers who have dreamt the same.”

Department of Transportation: “It's with a heavy heart that I share that I, along with thousands of other federal civil employees, have been unexpectedly terminated, effective immediately. The official reasoning is that our employment is ‘no longer in the public interest.’ As an Arctic specialist, I could not disagree more. What happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic.

The Arctic has warmed nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet since 1979, and we are at a pivotal moment in regional geopolitics. As the federal workforce is reduced, every retained employee must be considered essential. This raises a fundamental question: What does it mean to be essential? To me, prioritizing the Arctic—and those dedicated to protecting it—is essential. Despite this setback, my commitment to public service remains steadfast.”

Environmental Protection Agency: “Yes, I was one of the hundreds probationary employees let go yesterday, what’s being called the Valentine’s Day Massacre as thousands of feds are cut across departments and agencies. I logged off early for my authorized 2hr early dismissal since it was the holiday weekend, then found out sometime after 4pm they sent out termination notices and promptly locked us out at 5pm. I can’t even access my own termination letter. I’ve got some folks on the inside helping me figure this out, but I’m still just stunned at the cruelty of it all.

I jumped from stable, chill job with local government to EPA (which to be fair, at the time was also a stable, chill job) because I wanted to be on the front edge of a historic opportunity to help disadvantaged communities across the nation. Though these projects are just getting started, I wholeheartedly believe all of the Community Change Grant projects will live up to the name — they will create durable, lasting, resilient change in these communities. Lord knows I read so many of these applications, with needs as deep as they are varied, from Alaska to South Dakota, from Newark to Houston. It brings me to tears sometimes thinking about how many communities need help that we didn’t have the funds for, and I am thankful we funded those that we could. “

Department of Energy: “There were mass layoffs yesterday at the Department of Energy and I was one of many let go for no other reason than having worked for the federal government for less than a year.

While this was unexpected and stings to a certain degree, I don’t regret working as a civil servant for a moment. The colleagues I had at DOE are second to none and it was a privilege to do my small part in helping drive forward offshore wind and the broader energy transition.”

Department of Interior, National Park Service: “Yesterday at 6:47 p.m., after I had gone home for the day, I received an email on my work computer that I was being ‘separated from federal service’ because I have ‘failed to demonstrate fitness or qualification for continued employment.’ I had been waiting for the email, because six of my colleagues had already received theirs.

I had earned a high-performance rating at my annual evaluation, I was recently asked to serve on a subject matter expert hiring panel, and my supervisor disagrees with the decision and didn't have anything to do with it.

As a career conditional employee of the National Park Service, I had just 10 days to go until the end of my probation period. My only rights are to appeal based on a claim that the decision was motivated by partisan political purposes or marital status. I cannot make a claim based on unfounded statements about my performance.

I can't even begin to fathom how these actions will reverberate throughout all corners of our society. But I do have a pretty good idea what will happen to our national parks - America's best idea. Without staff, the National Park Service will be unable to carry out its 100+-year mandate to leave the parks unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations. This is a mission that my colleagues and I take seriously. We work for far less pay than we could in the private sector, and we spend many, many years working our way up the career ladder because we are passionate about serving our country by protecting public lands.

Yes, there will be long lines at the parks' fee booths, closed visitor centers, overflowing toilets, and poop on the trails, but there will also be severely impaired natural and cultural resources. This is happening at a time when we need public lands more than ever, to provide breathing room and landscape connectivity for wildlife who are losing habitat everywhere, to protect rare species, to preserve biodiversity, and to provide everyone with a measure of resilience in the face of climate change. The benefits that our parks provide are irreplaceable.”

Working for the National Park Service has been a dream job, a hard-fought new beginning after I left a previous career in journalism almost 10 years ago. I don't know what the future holds, but I will continue fighting for myself, my family, my colleagues, the American public, and our parks.”

They Aren’t Giving Up, Neither Should the Rest of US

Of course, this is just a small fraction of the people who were affected by a strategy designed to be in your face and disrespectful. Designed to be cruel. Designed to do damage to government and society. There is no rationale for this other than handwaving arguments about reducing the size of government. And no analysis or clarity on what “size” is needed to serve the American people. The only point is to shock, abuse, and demoralize.

Reading these statements, there is shock but not demoralization. I think what I read is resolve. I hear people saying, in their own words, “no one can take away my passion for my work. I will be back.”

Reach out to your networks. Provide moral support. And guidance to resources to fight back, like the link to DemocracyForward.org. Support those organizations that are trying to help these public-spirited scientists and their colleagues.

To all those laid off this week and, in the weeks, to come, I send my most sincere wish that you find new positions. And that you demand recompense from this Administration. Hopefully, there will be some longer-term accountability for the ringmasters of this cruel circus built on lies. We and our country deserve better. We should all be calling on our government to treat civil servants with respect, support and enable them to do the jobs we all need them to do. We cannot let this injustice and destruction stand.

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