White House Left With Zero Employees For Its Science Division After Staffers Leave

Democrat members of the House Science Committee called on President Donald Trump in May to appoint a director for the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). This week, the last three remaining employees of the science division of the OSTP left, sources told CBS News.

The employees were part of President Barack Obama’s administration who worked at one of four OSTP subdivisions. Under Obama, nine employees worked on policy issues regarding STEM education, biotechnology and crisis response. Now, under the Trump administration, there are no people working in the White House’s science division.

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One of the employees that left this week, was Eleanor Celeste, who was the assistant director for biomedical and forensic sciences at the OSTP.

“Science division out. Mic drop," she tweeted on Friday. “It's been an honor to work with truly exceptional colleagues at OSTP, and advance science for the American people. Onward”

“By COB today, number of staffers in White House OSTP's Science Division = 0," tweeted Kumar Garg, who worked at the OTSP under Obama.

Other former OSTP workers expressed their discontent.

“This vital science expertise & coordination is separate & distinct from OSTP tech functions, such as US CTO. Lack of science staff hurts us,” tweeted Cristin Dorgelo, a former OSTP employee.

“I worked with OSTP on clean energy and open data. Amazing folks,” tweeted Timothy Jones. “This is an outrage.”

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“Under the previous administration, OSTP had grown exponentially over what it had been before," a White House source told CBS.

The official added that before the Obama administration, the OSTP held 50 to 60 policy experts. Obama then expanded that number to more than 100 employees, only to have it cut down by the Trump administration to 35 staffers.

Democrats Previously Trump To Appoint OSTP Director

The departure of the last employees from the White House science division comes after Democrats urged Trump to appoint a “reliable” director of the OTSP in May. The OSTP was established in 1976 and its purpose is to provide advice to the White House on science and technology. Since Trump took office at the beginning of the year, the OSTP has been short-staffed and without a leader.

Rep. Mark Takano of California, who was among Democrats who signed the letter, told International Business Times in May that “until the OSTP directorship is filled crises like climate change are going to be left to grow unchecked.”

Representatives also urged Trump to quit going to unreliable sources for information and expressed their concern over the way he gets his news. They cited a Politico report that detailed Trump’s strong reaction to fake Time articles, which he thought were real. The Time stories were given to Trump by Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarland. One of the articles was apparently from the 1970s and warned of a coming ice age, while the other was from 2008 and was about surviving global warming. The ice age story had already been debunked years ago.

“If you appoint a qualified OSTP Director, you will have a reliable source of policy advice for matters related to science and technology, which forms the bedrock of our national security and economic power,” the representatives said in the letter. “Relying on factual technical and scientific data has helped make America the greatest nation in the world. We therefore urge you to quickly appoint a qualified, widely-respected candidate to direct OSTP.”