Trump Begins Purge of DEI NASA Employees

The newly-minted Trump administration is wasting no time in imposing its vision across the United States government, and NASA is no exception.

As Ars Technica reports, the space agency's acting head is threatening employees with "adverse consequences" if they fail to snitch on any coworkers involved with diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) programs.

"We are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump’s executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions," NASA's acting administrator Janet Petro wrote in the email.

"These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination," she wrote, without providing any evidence.

A Tuesday memo to federal agencies by the Office of Personnel Management directed them to remove "outward facing media" regarding DEIA efforts by Wednesday evening and to place all employees involved with those programs on leave, with the aim of soon permanently laying them off. As such, NASA's website dedicated to diversity and inclusion now been taken down.

It remains to be seen how specifically NASA will be affected by the incursion. But the massive culling could send ripples across federal agencies, including the space agency.

"Given the broad brush that they have painted, it's potentially very large numbers of people," the head of the Office of Personnel Management under former President Joe Biden Rob Shriver told NPR.

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Petro's email also insinuated that DEIA programs were being hidden from the Trump administration, requesting that employees inform on each other.

"We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," the email reads. "If you are aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances."

The phrasing "DEIA or similar ideologies" should raise alarm bells. The vague language invites all sorts of discriminatory and problematic interpretations, even beyond diversity and inclusion efforts.

As SpaceNews points out, it's a major ideological reversal for Petro. She has previously praised diversity initiatives, telling Engineering News-Record in late 2021 that the agency's "commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility has been paramount to mission success."

"The entire NASA leadership team stands behind this commitment," she added at the time.

It's unclear whether Petro personally supports the dismantlement of DEIA programs and the mass firing of related hires, or whether she was acting under pressure.

But the whole thing is a sign that the Trump administration is willing to treat federal employees with disdain, threatening them and setting them against each other in its pursuit of a more homogenous workforce.

"Penalizing career civil servants for faithfully doing their jobs during a prior administration is wrong," Partnership for Public Service CEO Max Stier wrote in a statement. "The affected employees are everyday people who have to support themselves and their families, and the abrupt and rushed approach chosen here will have a traumatizing impact on not just them but their colleagues who remain in their roles serving the public, as well."

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