1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

The mass firing of all 22 National Science Board members on April 24th was illegal and must be reversed immediately. Congress established the NSB in 1950, and only Congress can dissolve it. The White House cannot terminate an entire board created by statute simply because it wants compliant advisers. This purge is part of a deliberate campaign to destroy the National Science Foundation. The administration has already slashed NSF staff by over 30%, seized its headquarters, frozen new grants, and proposed cutting the budget by more than half. Now it has eliminated the independent board that Congress mandated to oversee NSF spending. Former NSB chair Victor McCrary revealed that the White House Office of Management and Budget ordered NSF leadership to hide budget details from board members, a clear violation of the board's statutory authority. Without the NSB, there is no check on political interference at NSF. The next board meeting on May 5th was set to release a report on the United States losing scientific ground to China. That report may never see daylight now. Restore the terminated board members immediately and pass legislation protecting NSF's independence and budget. American scientific leadership depends on it.