The science division of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is officially unstaffed it seems.
The OSTP was established in 1976 with the goal of advising the president on matters related to science and technology. The science division is one of four divisions within the department, each with a different focus.
During former U.S. President Barack Obama’s presidency, the OSTP had a total of 100 employees, nine of which worked in the science division.
According to a report in CBS News, the last three remaining employees of the science division departed last week.
On Friday afternoon, the last employee officially quit, tweeting a “mic drop”.
science division out. mic drop. pic.twitter.com/RoYTJqLoXa
— Elle Celeste (@elleabella1112) June 30, 2017
Unlike Trump, Obama was a strong ally of science. The now empty division worked on issues such as STEM education, biotechnology and crisis response. Boring!
Trump is more interested in the exciting stuff, like getting people on Mars. Who cares about silly things like global warming? It was invented by the Chinese anyway, right? Climate change is clearly fake news.
An official from the White House has since refuted the claim that the science division is now unstaffed.
An OSTP official reportedly told The Hill that there are a total of 35 employees in OSTP and 12 in the department’s science division.
The reduction of 100 to 35 employees is being framed as a culling of a department that had become unnecessarily large. But maybe it got bigger because issues like global warming are becoming more urgent.
Kumar Garg, who formerly worked at the OSTP under Obama seems to think so. He tweeted that the lack of science roles in the Trump administration isn’t helping.
No CTO
No Chief Data Scientist
No staff with relevant expertise
=
Not ready to deal w/ the inevitable crisis that will come https://t.co/1Af2ZqbvI3— dj patil (@dpatil) July 1, 2017
Nicole Wong, another former OSTP employee also chimed in.
OSTP's science division is now empty. During my time in the WH, they were essential experts on antibiotic resistance, precision medicine 1/ https://t.co/bKTUmwsoLo
— nicolewong (@nicolewong) July 1, 2017
Advancing STEM education, diversifying STEM workforce, moving forward on quantum info science, browsing investment in scientific research 2/
— nicolewong (@nicolewong) July 1, 2017
The absence of this scientific expertise in the WH is a loss for our country and a dangerous posture given the many challenges we face. 3/3
— nicolewong (@nicolewong) July 1, 2017
Since taking office, Trump has slashed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, appointed a climate change denier as its Administrator, and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.
When it comes to energy, Trump is a big fan of coal and he has chosen Rick Perry as U.S. Secretary of Energy. Is Perry qualified? He has a degree in animal husbandry in case you are wondering. Perry replaced Dr Ernest Moniz, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor who has about seven degrees in science.
Trump 5, Science 0. Trump may have an early lead, but we shouldn’t count out science just yet. When things do go pear-shaped – and they will – he may wish he had listened to those egg heads and their fancy words like “sea level” “rising” and “disaster”.
It’s very little consolation, but in the meantime have a go at this game in which you can pelt a mini-Trump with globes and science books.
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