"Agencies and unions have put in place new guardrails designed to limit political interference in government research."

"During the first Trump administration, Virginia Burkett, a senior government scientist, felt like she had a target on her back.

She fought attempts by Trump officials to eliminate climate research programs while also rejecting their requests that she alter the nation’s premiere report on how global warming affects every region of the country.

But Dr. Burkett says she paid a price. In a whistle-blower complaint, she said the Trump administration retaliated by demoting her and removing her as chair of the committee overseeing the report.

Her experience was part of a broad assault on science across the federal government during the first Trump administration. Other scientists were also demoted or reassigned, projects were disrupted and scientists were pressured to delete their research or were blocked from publicizing it. In the end, hundreds of scientists and experts in environmental policy left the government."

Coral Davenport reports for the New York Times January 17, 2025. [2]