Science and Freedom Alliance - SAFA

“It’s the logical endpoint to unitary executive theory,” said Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan. “Their desired end goal would be to arrive at a completely ‘at-will’ workforce. ... I think the administration is going to push the unitary executive idea as far as it can, and all of the signals it has been getting from the Supreme Court is to push further and push faster.”

This guy gets it
www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

This is revealing, but not in the way he thinks.

Bhattacharya did and does hold fringe views in the scientific community.

He got to where he is not by persuading scientists, but by benefiting from rightwing billionaires and their media platforms—Musk bought Twitter and gave him a blue check. 1/

Institute Directors have a huge amount of power at NIH. To maintain (what’s left of) the integrity of NIH, we need to make sure qualified scientists with topic-specific expertise and leadership experience remain at the helm.

What is the typical search and selection process for IC Directors? For at least three decades, a rigorous and thorough search process has been largely successful in recruiting talented Directors whose service has maintained the NIH as a driver of biomedical innovation and economic growth in the U.S. The NIH structured search process is modeled after leadership searches at major academic institutions across the United States. Recruiting IC Directors is challenging at the best of times. Most suitable applicants would have to be willing to accept a large pay cut and divest from board seats and investments. The NIH process is designed to actively solicit outstanding scientific and medical leaders, selecting the optimal candidate through thorough and fair processes. This approach helps ensure appropriate stewardship of NIH's public resources and preserves NIH's status as a world leader in biomedical research.

1. Search Committee - The NIH Director approves the composition of a search committee, which is proposed by the principal deputy director in consultation with community stakeholders and NIH Institute Directors in related areas. The search committee is typically co-chaired by two Institute Directors, composed of 10-12 members, roughly half from NIH with occasional representatives from FDA, CMS, SAMHSA, CDC, or other HHS components when relevant to the mission of the Institute. The remaining members are members of the extramural scientific and/or stakeholder community, representing a broad set of approaches and perspectives. Members are selected not only for their subject matter expertise but also based on familiarity with the institute, its mission and operations. Several of these members may have had direct experience on the Institute Council, Board of Scientific Counselors, or other relationships past or present. Most if not all will have held grants/contracts through the institute. 2. Advertising the Job Announcement.

Info on the longstanding NIH search committee process:

Demand that NIH Maintain the Scientific Credibility of its Institute Directors The institute directors at NIH are top scientific leaders who in principle can redirect grant money as they please. The Trump NIH must not install new directors without a real hiring process.

NIH has for decades used a rigorous recruitment process to hire its top scientists, the institute directors.

The Trump NIH is changing that. They’ve already installed one political hire this way, reportedly a friend of JD Vance.

This post describes the process. Demand the Trump people follow it.

Hey all! Reminder we’ve got a great event coming up! Punk Rock Concert for science! Support former NIH workers trying to save science! Link to purchase tickets here! actionnetwork.org/ticketed_eve... @allstrike.bsky.social @ammoniteband.bsky.social 🧵🧵

Kornacki just called TN-07 special election for Van Epps.

It was a privilege to have @standupforscience.bsky.social’s first official endorsement be @aftynbehn.bsky.social—a true pro-science fighter. She got a Trump +22 district down to single digits, which is huge! I’m proud of our work and hers.

<em>Journal of the International AIDS Society</em> | IAS HIV Research Journal | Wiley Online Library Click on the article title to read more.

Thank you, @drdemetre.bsky.social for writing this important piece. We cannot ignore that #HIV/AIDS and other health conditions do not exist. Research, funding, and access to the health system are human rights. #publichealthsky

No surprise the Trump NIH director doesn’t understand how science works—doesn’t get NIH has been *the* world-historic leader in innovation.

After all, he’s never actually done any science.
Even before his rightwing pundit career 2020-25, he spent his time with economists, not scientists.

This is a story about how America’s world-leading cancer and dementia research system was destroyed by frauds and naifs who broke the law.

There must be consequences.

This memo dates shortly after the 8/7 “Improving Oversight of Federal Garntmaking” EO. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

Many took comfort that Institute Directors would continue to make NIH funding decisions. They (except NCI) have been civil servants not politicos.

That seems to be shifting.

A glorious selfie with the official MAHA lanyard seconds after I made it past Secret Service screening.

About that exclusive, "closed-to-press" MAHA summit last week with RFK and JD Vance: I got in.

Here's what I saw. 🧵 🧪

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Lots going on but don’t lose track of the Trump attacks on biomedical research and cancer cures.

@jeremymberg.bsky.social posted a leaked #NIH memo today. I want to highlight a few scary parts.

They’re about taking power from scientists and experts and giving it to the president’s hacks. 1/ 🧪

'It was my duty to speak up' | Former NIH scientist speaks out after being placed on leave

"'It was my duty to speak up' | Former NIH scientist @jenna-m-norton.bsky.social speaks out after being placed on leave"

(from end of last week)

www.wusa9.com/article/news...

Person holding sign in crowd reading Get the (Image of Duck) Outta Here RFK Jr.

Two people in crowd holding signs reading "Autism is not a problem. RFK Jr. is a problem."

Group of students holding signs, visible sign reads: "Warning, Speaker contains toxic levels of misinformation"

A person in a bright purple reflective vest holds a microphone as a crowd behind them holds signs and faces a subject off-stage to the left.

While RFK Jr. spewed his misinformation on campus, students, allies, and scientists rallied to demand he "get the 🦆 outta here!"

The Anti-science agenda has no place on our campuses — whether platformed in events or as part of academic "compacts for excellence."

@christopherstreet.bsky.social

NIH scientists publish letter criticizing Trump's deep cuts in public health research The letter addresses the termination of 2,100 research grants valued at more than $12 billion and some of the human costs that have resulted, such as cutting off medication regimens to participants in...

According to a source, Jenna Norton, who led a letter criticizing Trump's decimation of the NIH (see below), has been placed on administrative leave. She's the first at NIH to be put on leave, joining EPA officials who criticized Trump policies.
www.pbs.org/newshour/nat...

A bad thing is unfolding at NIH this week: It looks like the Trump administration is trying to replace key civil servant scientific leaders, the Institute Directors, with political hires. These directors control the NIH budget, tens of billions.

A bit of a video explainer here: 1/ 🧪

Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’ From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...

Great article from @virginiagewin.bsky.social showing that across the Federal science ecosystem, research that benefits the American public is being delayed or completely halted, and remaining programs are being consolidated under close partisan political control. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

YouTube video by Mark Histed Should we be worried about getting rid of the filibuster?

Every person in science I talked to yesterday brought up the filibuster. (!!)

So I recorded a video explainer on it.

Should we be worried about getting rid of the filibuster?
In short, no. Though there are a few wrinkles.

So awesome thank you!

Happy Halloween!

Monach butterflies remind us migration is beautiful.

Let's keep each other safe today and keep standing up for our communities and our right to migrate.

The Telegraph Headline: New Covid virus found in wild Brazilian bats Subhed: The discovery of a ‘furin cleavage site’ suggests the mutation which helps the virus adapt to humans is naturally occurring

Sad day for the folks who staked their reputations on lab leak conspiracy theories.

www.telegraph.co.uk/global-healt...

❤️

Yep! “Don’t let them win” sums it up for me.

The thing that really kills me is that all these ghouls are vaccinated. They're gonna be fine. They just wanna kill our kids and elders.

NASA is sinking its flagship science center during the government shutdown — and may be breaking the law in the process, critics say "There is just a general acknowledgement that a lot of what is happening is illegal…"

Goddard Space Flight Center is where the ozone hole and global warming were discovered, and they have the largest concentration of earth systems scientists. It’s not just planetary and astrophysics work.

And it’s being demolished.

I am neither a more skilled nor a more committed civil servant than those who were wrongfully terminated. Reinstate them. We have created more waste by firing them. #NIH #statssky #publichealthsky #FEDStrong

The mass firings have been lawless: now and all year The first step in stopping a lawless Supreme Court is being clear about what it’s doing

I wrote an explainer about the mass firings—the RIFs.

The RIFs all year have been clearly illegal. Russell Vought is using them to lawlessly clean out federal agencies. Lower court judges have said so. But the Calvinball Supreme Court has allowed them. 1/

Yes!

Check this out: After the shutdown, Trump’s approval fell.

The shutdown was and is bad in many ways. But this shows some important upsides.

This seems to validate the “pick big fights” theory of fighting authoritarianism.