NEWS29 August 2025Some researchers say that US-agency policies provide opportunities for political interference.ByDan Garisto,Jeff Tollefson &Max KozlovDan GaristoView author publicationsSearch author on: PubMed Google ScholarJeff TollefsonView author publicationsSearch author on: PubMed Google ScholarMax KozlovView author publicationsSearch author on: PubMed Google ScholarPresident Trump has signed two executive orders that could fundamentally shift oversight of science integrity by federal researchers.Credit: Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg/GettyUS science agencies have begun releasing their plans to comply with US President Donald Trump’s call for ‘gold-standard science’. The plans mainly detail efforts towards achieving widely supported science goals, such as data accessibility and reproducibility. But researchers and science-policy specialists tell Nature that elements of the plans leave the door open to political interference in science.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), for instance, would put a Trump-appointed official in charge of implementing the new policies, including protocols for reporting research-integrity violations. In the past, responsibility for such tasks at federal agencies was generally held by career civil servants, who were often scientists hired for their expertise.Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ has prompted an outcry: here’s whyThe new policies are the agencies’ first response to two White House executive orders that directed agencies to put political appointees in charge of decisions about science funding and integrity. The policies could shape the work of the nearly 300,000 scientists and engineers who work for federal agencies and the almost US$200 billion of science funded by the US government.Researchers who spoke to Nature say the overhaul is not in good faith, pointing to the Trump administration’s language around the policy. The most recent executive order, issued 7 August, claimed science grants went to scientists who “promoted Marxism, class warfare propaganda, and other anti-American ideologies”. “The overall strategy is attacking scientific findings in order to diminish the public’s trust,” says David Michaels, an epidemiologist at George Washington University in Washington DC who held public-health positions under previous administrations. A government scientist who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation said that the language around gold-standard science was being used to justify the sweeping cuts to science proposed by the White House this year.Neither the White House nor its Office of Science and Technology Policy responded to requests for comment from Nature. But Department of Energy spokesperson Ben Dietderich responded to accusations that the Trump administration is using the gold-standard policies to undermine US science. “Unlike previous administrations that abused the scientific process to advance their radical political agenda, the Trump administration is returning the United States to a gold standard of science that fosters more open, fact-based conversations and will allow for the United States to be the global leader in scientific innovation,” Dietderich said in a statement.Warring policiesDuring Trump’s first term (2017–21), his administration censored government scientists on issues such as COVID-19, altered scientific information in government reports and barred some researchers from science advisory boards. During the subsequent presidency of Joe Biden, federal agencies crafted scientific-integrity policies to protect scientists and prevent political manipulation of science.After Trump, US researchers urge Biden to block political meddling in scienceThis May, four months into his second term, Trump issued an executive order that repealed the Biden-era scientific-integrity policies, citing a “loss of trust” in science. The order also called for reforms that would ensure that science is “transparent, rigorous and impactful”. The 7 August executive order focused on the federal grant-making process, which is the primary method of allocating federal fund to US science. Both orders called for presidential appointees to take charge of the reforms, which would shift power away from career civil servants and scientists.Policies published by the FDA, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US National Science Foundation (NSF) centre on widely embraced goals and ideas for improving science. Many of their recommendations echo existing efforts meant to ensure reproducibility and transparency.The NSF’s plan, for instance, includes a table showing that 14 of 23 activities proposed to implement Trump’s orders are already ongoing. The NIH document describes many initiatives that began prior to the second Trump administration, such as a call for comments from the scientific community on ways to encourage publishing null and negative findings.Political infiltrationBut some staff members at scientific agencies do not trust that the response to the president’s orders will strengthen US science. “I expect it will be used to further politicize science by labeling research the administration doesn’t like as ‘not gold-standard’,” says an NIH staff member, who requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation.Trump’s chief science adviser faces a storm of criticism: what's next?doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-02770-w Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ has prompted an outcry: here’s why Trump order gives political appointees vast powers over research grants Will US science survive Trump 2.0? 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