National Science Foundation Workers to Issue “Alexandria Declaration” Decrying “Catastrophic Changes” Under Trump Administration

The new declaration echoes similar efforts from NIH and EPA.

Written by Walker Bragman

Jul 09, 2025

In early June, hundreds of current and former workers of the National Institutes of Health published the Bethesda Declaration castigating their agency’s leadership under Director Jay Bhattacharya. The document, which was subsequently endorsed by the NIH Fellows United union, laid out a host of grievances, including research cuts and a growing politicization of science happening on his watch.

Later that same month, workers at the Environmental Protection Agency followed suit with their own Declaration of Dissent, calling out similar issues under Administrator Lee Zeldin. In the wake of the declaration, Zeldin, declaring “zero tolerance,” put 139 EPA workers who signed the document on administrative leave, pending an investigation.

Now, workers at the U.S. National Science Foundation, the independent federal agency that supports research and education in non-medical sciences and engineering, are planning to publish their own declaration, decrying changes they have seen inside the independent federal agency under the Trump administration. Like the previous declarations, the NSF document was organized with help from the nonprofit Stand Up for Science. According to an insider familiar with the effort, the declaration is set to be finalized over the weekend and go out on Monday to members of Congress.

Late Wednesday night, an email went out to members of the AFGE Local 3403 union representing employees at NSF collecting signatures for the so-called Alexandria Declaration, highlighting “catastrophic changes” to the agency “and the scientific enterprise of the United States over the last 6 months.”

“At this critical moment in our shared history, we hope to catalyze a level of public awareness and subsequent action that will preserve NSF and the values it upholds,” the email reads, noting that the effort was inspired by the Bethesda Declaration.

Named for Alexandria, Virginia, where the agency’s headquarters are located, the new declaration is addressed “To Those Who Oversee NSF’s Mission,” according to a draft obtained by Important Context.

“In support of the bold and independent vision that accompanied the founding of the agency in the aftermath of World War II, the employees of the National Science Foundation (NSF) denounce the policies of the Administration that jeopardize the agency’s mission,” a draft of the document opens.

Similar to the declarations that preceded it, the NSF draft lays out a list of eight “ongoing harms that undermine one of America’s foremost pathways to knowledge and innovation, which fosters the next generation of problem solvers – scientists, engineers, and educators.”

“If left unchecked,” it warns, “these deleterious actions will dismantle NSF and the scientific infrastructure that is critical to our nation’s security and economic prosperity.”

Top of the list of its “Eight Charges of Dissent” is the “Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2026 that will decimate U.S. based science, hurt our economy, and cede worldwide STEM leadership to other countries.”

”The President has proposed a 56% cut to NSF’s budget starting October 1st, which is even starker in some targeted areas, such as more than 70% reductions for the biological sciences, engineering, and STEM education,” it reads. “If enacted, these devastating cuts would cripple the agency and unnecessarily cede our longstanding competitive edge in scientific innovation to other countries…By the Administration’s own estimate, the proposed budget would eliminate NSF support for a quarter of a million scientists, educators, and students…the decimated budget will harm the colleges and universities that train America’s technical workforce and the economies of communities throughout the United States.”

The document also takes aim at cuts made by the so-called Department Of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, to awards for researchers and educators in 49 states and the District of Columbia. These cuts, it says, “waste previous and ongoing investments, undermine NSF’s rigorous merit review process, hurt real people, and impede America’s scientific progress.”

The declaration notes that between April and May, DOGE terminated 1,667 NSF awards “using criteria that have never been publicly shared.”

“As of June 5, 2025, these terminations have undercut an investment of $1.35 billion dollars made by NSF over the last several years to 512 unique institutions,” it reads. “In doing so, DOGE and its partners in the Administration ignored multiple bipartisan laws, such as the America COMPETES Act, which provides clear directives and appropriations from Congress to broaden participation in STEM.”

The declaration adds that the cancelled awards “supported training programs for graduate students, professional development for K-12 STEM teachers, research on scientific literacy, and laboratory and field sites for over 20 summer research experiences serving hundreds of undergraduate students.” It laments that “in many cases, these grants were designed to recruit the brightest minds to our scientific enterprise by providing unique opportunities to groups that often do not have access to scientific training and experiences.”

The draft declaration accuses the administration of ‘corrupting’ NSF’s review process, which it notes “had long been regarded as the benchmark within the scientific research community.” The new review criteria, the declaration calls “political and ideological” and “inherently anti-science.”

“An additional secretive level of political review by unqualified and untrained DOGE representatives now occurs before grants to scientists and institutions can be finalized,” it reads. “The criteria and processes underlying the late-stage interventions by DOGE are opaque to NSF’s scientists, who are required to make funding recommendations based on rigorous scientific peer review and review criteria set by the National Science Board.”

The Alexandria Declaration takes aim at the White House Office of Management and Budget, headed by Project 2025 co-author Russell Vought, for withholding $2.2 billion of the $9 billion congressionally appropriated NSF budget for the fiscal year, amounting to 24 percent “of already appropriated funds, despite the bill to fully fund the government being signed into law on March 15th.”

“The White House’s OMB no longer publicly shares data on this distribution of appropriated funds, contrary to law requiring disclosure...This lack of transparency is now being contested in federal court,” it reads. “These continued delays present grave threats to the mission of NSF. There are imminent fiscal year deadlines, and NSF programs cannot award grants to scientists when funds are withheld. Time is running out, as the current fiscal year ends in less than three months. To uphold core constitutional principles about federal spending, OMB must swiftly release the remaining appropriated funds.”

“Congress and NSF leadership must hold the Administration accountable, ensuring that NSF can complete its mandated spending directives from Congress,” it adds.

Other grievances in the declaration have to do with the treatment of agency workers by the Trump administration. It points out, for example, that personnel reductions made by the White House included senior experts. It calls out the administration’s push to force employees back into the office, calling the mandates “chaotic and inflexible” and alleging that they have “upended the personal lives of civil servants” and lowered morale.

“During the spring, NSF employees resumed commuting to the office every day, despite working effectively and efficiently in a hybrid model for the past 15 years,” it reads.

“NSF leadership was either unable or unwilling to execute a sensible [return-to-office] process, resulting in the attrition of valuable experts while further eroding morale at an agency that previously exhibited good workplace relations,” it adds.

The declaration also calls out “Coerced resignations and retirements of longtime employees and shedding of rotators,” warning that “In terms of human resources, NSF’s wealth of experience, expertise, and institutional knowledge is rapidly being depleted.”

“Over the past several months, hundreds of colleagues have chosen to depart through early retirement or the ‘deferred resignation program,’ either in reaction to the threatened agency-wide RIF and restructuring or the inflexible and unpredictable RTO plan,” it reads. “These departures are largely from permanent employees who have a deep understanding of administrative systems, processes, and science priorities, and these losses are profoundly felt.”

In addition to the permanent staffers being forced out, the declaration also notes that NSF plans to cut temporary Intergovernmental Personnel Act employees—researchers on loan from universities—“from 330 down to just 70 scholars who align with a narrow set of newly announced priorities (artificial intelligence, quantum information science, biotechnology, nuclear energy, and translational science).”

“If NSF’s permanent staff are its lungs, then these rotators are the fresh air, helping the agency to perform at peak capacity.”

The final Charge of Dissent has to do with the NSF’s eviction from its headquarters “with no advance notice, timeline, or planned relocation site.”

“On June 25th, NSF staff learned that the agency would be displaced from its Headquarters in Alexandria sometime in 2026 to accommodate the Department of Housing and Urban Development,” the document reads. “NSF relocated to its current, purpose-built building of offices and meeting spaces in 2017, a process that took years of thoughtful planning and carefully choreographed logistics to minimize disruption to the agency’s work and to ensure efficient use of taxpayer dollars.”

The declaration notes that the agency had “grown into the building” and its employees “rooted in the community,” lamenting that “Now, there is a bewildering urgency to push NSF entirely out of this space and a lack of public information on the cost-benefit analysis that justifies the decision to relocate two agencies.”

“This gambit further undercuts morale while creating further uncertainty and upheaval in an already tumultuous 2025,” it laments.

The declaration closes with a “Who We Are” section, explaining that as NSF employees “We steadfastly uphold the agency’s mission to promote the progress of science, to secure the national defense, and to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare.”

”We have proudly worked to maintain our country’s global leadership in science and innovation for the benefit of all Americans,” it reads. Collectively, we hope to continue the NSF’s 75-year record of excellence and contribution to America’s economic prosperity. We are civil servants. We swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution, and we meant it.”

As of the time of this publication, the number of declaration signers is unknown.