The Trump administration has not built up their Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) after taking over 6 months ago. It currently has 35 staffers with no defined leadership. The previous administration anticipated this sluggishness and According to previous Director of OSTP, John Holdren, says the plunge in staff levels is normal during a presidential transition. “But what’s shocking is that, this far into the new administration, the numbers haven’t gone back up”. "Holdren says his staff - substantially larger than OSTP’s under Bush and twice its previous peak under former President Bill Clinton - reflected Obama’s desire to elevate science and technology in his administration. “The president was so interested in knowing what science could do to advance his agenda, be it on economic recovery, energy and climate change, or national security,” Holdren says. In contrast, Holdren says, “right now I think OSTP is just hanging on.””

My opinion as a scientist is that it saddens me that the priority of this administration is to cut the budgets of scientists across all disciplines and research development level (basic vs applied). I think that advancements in science and technology have been and will be the greatest drivers of US economic success in the future years and decades to come. The hardest part for short term politicians is that science and technology progress takes a lot of time, often spanning multiple administrations from the tops of the government down to mayors of cities.