Over 1,900 U.S. Scientists Warn: “Science Is Under Attack – And Everyone Is at Risk”
More than 1,900 researchers from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine have issued a rare open letter to the American public, warning that the Trump administration’s attacks on science pose a direct threat to public welfare and national stability. “This is an SOS,” the scientists wrote, “America’s scientific foundation is being dismantled.”
Open Letter from Top U.S. Researchers: “Science Must Not Be Silenced”
The signatories, comprised of prominent scientists from the country’s leading research institutions, stated:
“We hold diverse political beliefs, but we are united as researchers in wanting to protect independent scientific inquiry. This is an SOS to sound a clear warning: the nation’s scientific enterprise is being decimated.”
The letter comes in response to escalating restrictions and hostile rhetoric targeting science, universities, and individual researchers under the Trump-Musk administration.
Federal Pressure on Universities, Student Detentions Draw Fire
The letter references alarming developments, including investigations into over 50 universities, and the controversial detentions of international students such as Rumeysa Öztürk and Mahmoud Khalil by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Columbia University was allegedly threatened with federal funding cuts unless it shut down an academic department singled out by the administration.
“Undermining institutions of higher education threatens not just students, but the very research that fuels progress,” the letter said.
The Trump administration has issued numerous executive orders widely criticized as unconstitutional or authoritarian. These have ranged from restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights to pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord and the World Health Organization.
Musk and Kennedy’s Policies Wreak Havoc on Federal Science
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has reportedly gutted critical science agencies, including NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division and Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.
Meanwhile, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled vaccine planning meetings and is allocating federal resources to investigate the thoroughly debunked myth linking vaccines to autism.
“The Public Must Act to Defend Science”
“We call on the administration to cease its wholesale assault on U.S. science,” the letter concludes. “We urge the public to join us. Share this message, contact your representatives, and inform your communities of what’s at stake. Science benefits all of us—and we all stand to lose if the research enterprise is destroyed.”