NSF slashes research programs to support new tech initiative, insiders say

Post by tennfown » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:17 PM UTC

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #10

Rest assured, this will likely come with no small amount of grift. The Trump administration has already installed political appointees in America’s federal R&D organizations including the NIH and NSF. They have final say on funding decisions. These appointees override grant peer review and regular agency channels. It’s all part of Russel Vought/Project 2025’s unitary executive theory. These NSF initiatives could well…

Post by secretsatan » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

Post by Hikikomori » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:29 PM UTC

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #10

Rest assured, this will likely come with no small amount of grift. The Trump administration has already installed political appointees in America’s federal R&D organizations including the NIH and NSF. They have final say on funding decisions. These appointees override grant peer review and regular agency channels. It’s all part of Russel Vought/Project 2025’s unitary executive theory. These NSF initiatives could well…

Post by srean » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

tennfown wrote: post #11

BenFranklin100 wrote: post #10

Rest assured, this will likely come with no small amount of grift. The Trump administration has already installed political appointees in America’s federal R&D organizations including the NIH and NSF. They have final say on funding decisions. These appointees override grant peer review and regular agency channels. It’s all part of Russel Vought/Project 2025’s unitary executive theory. These NSF initiatives could well…

> Rest assured, this will likely come with no small amount of grift. I naturally expect this money to go to tech companies who have time and time again proven their ability to innovate and thrive in the bleeding edge: basically Oracle.

Post by exe34 » Mon, Jun 22, 2026, 5:38 PM UTC

TimorousBestie wrote: post #4

contemporary343 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's also a way to reduce funding to universities (which are politically disfavored), since other things like arbitrary reductions to indirect costs didn't work. It also defies both congressional will in the appropriations bill (which is directorate-specific) and of course the whole charter and mandate of NSF, from Vannevar Bush's original case for it.

Yeah, this is all well-attested. It’s so weird. Presumably the conservatives still want the US to be a superpower, which presumably includes high-tech capabilities like global power projection, missile defense, and persistent space operations. At the same time they seemingly want a Cultural Revolution-like decimation of intellectuals. I don’t see how they believe they can attain both objectives at once.