Bad to worse at NSF? (July 2026 edition)

When I wrote this post last month, I really did not want it to be first in a series.

The inciting incident to write that post was a news article in Science reporting that there have been draconian ~ 30% cuts in present fiscal year budgets within the NSF.  Program officers were instructed to keep this confidential and not talk about it with PIs.  The rumor was that this funding would go to support the TIP directorate and its activities, particularly the "X-Labs".  

Now Dan Garisto has broken this story in Nature. For some, this is behind a paywall, so let me hit the highlights.

• "NSF staff members — who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation — and an internal NSF ledger seen by Nature suggest that the NSF plans to claw back around US$500 million that has already been distributed to grant-making divisions. "
• "Several NSF staff members told Nature that at least some of the funds will be funnelled to another project, a brainchild of the White House OSTP."
• "Even though programme officers have less to spend than they had expected, those who spoke to Nature are unsure how many new grants will make it out the door. “They could make it through if the process is allowed to work without interference or interruption,” one staff member says. But most of “the process is now a black box and unpredictable”. "
• "NSF staff members estimate that if the withdrawals are finalized, hundreds more proposals that have been recommended for funding across the engineering, computer and information science and engineering, and maths and physical science directorates would need to be sent back to programme officers for revision. Some proposals would be held until a later date when funds are available. Others would have their budgets reduced, and some would simply be declined."
• "Staff members say that they are frustrated by the planned diversion of funds and the lack of communication about the agency’s spending. “We don’t know where the money’s going or what’s going on,” says one staff member. Programme officers are not allowed to pass on what they know to researchers. “We cannot communicate to the community at all. We’re forbidden.”"

Basically, this reporting confirms the unprecedented mid-fiscal-year cuts; confirms that there is zero transparency about this with the community and even within the agency; and reveals that the funds are apparently being diverted to some mysterious OSTP project.  

To get a sense of scale, consider a typical program within MPS, with an annual budget of around X dollars.  About 20% or more of those funds are "mortgaged", set aside for ongoing already-funded projects, leaving 0.8X dollars for new awards.  Now, however, there is a 30% cut in the middle of the fiscal year, so the resources now available for new awards are 0.7X-0.2X = 0.5X.  The number of new awards therefore has to be cut by 37.5% relative to last year.   

This is a huge deviation from what Congress appropriated, seemingly being steered at the direction of the White House.  Will Congress care, or will the majority just give this power to the executive branch?  Is anyone going to disclose what the mystery project is?  Is any major national media outlet going to report on this?

I will post more science soon, I promise, and I hope that I don't have more posts in this series.