The federal government is continuing to hollow out its research centers. The National Institutes of Health has carried out a second, unexpected round of layoffs across its various departments, including staff at the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
The layoffs were first reported late Monday evening by CBS News, based on interviews with current and recently fired employees. Around 200 people have or are soon expected to be fired, including 50 at the NCI. The cuts were made despite previous assurances about no further layoffs, according to CBS News.
“We thought the worst was behind us, and we were transitioning into this new phase, and the rug was just pulled out from underneath us,” a laid-off employee told CBS.
The White House has implemented a cataclysmic fire sale of its federal research institutes in the wake of Donald Trump’s return to the presidency. Guided by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and overseen by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has hemorrhaged some 10,000 jobs in the past few months, including 1,200 jobs at the NIH. Trump has also dictated sweeping budget cuts and he’s tried to revoke billions in federal research and public health funding promised by the previous administration, though these attempts are being legally challenged by affected states and organizations.
This tightening of the belt has gone about as smoothly as you might expect, with senior officials like RFK Jr. seemingly not even being aware of major funding cuts. In some cases, the administration has also backtracked and tried to rehire staff who weren’t supposed to be fired or whose jobs are simply too important to easily terminate. These rehires are reportedly one of the reasons behind the latest round of layoffs. Two people told CBS News that the firings are intended to balance out the people who were brought back, in order to make sure that the NIH still meets its expected layoff targets.
The new layoffs at the NCI largely involved staff who work at the NIH’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison. But these employees play a vital role in corresponding with the public and other doctors about relevant NIH programs; they also maintain the NCI’s Cancer Information Service, which helps answer the public’s cancer-related questions. The NCI has already previously lost 150 employees in other departments, including those involved in outside contracting and human resources.
All of this chaos might only be a prelude to the true disaster looming ahead. In its proposed budget, the White House has called for Congress to cut NIH funding by 40%, while it also plans to eliminate or collapse most of the NIH’s divisions as part of a grand restructuring. In addition to the widespread harm these cuts are causing to public health, they could soon trigger a major exodus of scientists from the U.S. Just this week, the European Union announced a $555 million initiative aimed at luring U.S.-based scientists overseas, with the plan’s architects subtly citing Trump’s attacks on government-led science as a key motivator. Given enough time and damage, Trump could very well oversee the U.S. losing its status as one of the world’s leaders in scientific research.
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