AAS Responds to Reported Dismantling of NCAR

The AAS is deeply concerned by the recent announcement that the National Science Foundation (NSF) intends to “restructure” the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) by narrowing the scope of its scientific investigations and stripping it of key assets used in those investigations. Like other Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), NCAR is a public-private partnership that addresses a “special long-term research or development need which cannot be met as effectively by existing in-house or contractor resources” and that allows the government to “use private sector resources to accomplish tasks that are integral to the mission and operation of the sponsoring agency.” Since 1960, NCAR has played a key role in enabling US research on the Earth’s atmosphere — via observation and interpretation — that has had positive impacts on weather forecasting, agriculture, electrical power distribution, travel safety, and national security. Of interest to the AAS, research conducted at NCAR informs our understanding of space weather hazards caused by solar storms and the atmospheric properties of other planets in and beyond our solar system.

No institution or organization is perfect, and continuous improvement in the wise stewardship of taxpayer dollars must be a central goal of every FFRDC. However, an abruptly announced “restructuring” that is more aptly described as “dismantling” is not the right approach to managing change at an organization like NCAR that has provided distinguished service to the nation for 65 years. President Trump’s May 2025 Executive Order on “Restoring Gold Standard Science” calls for agencies to implement scientific integrity policies that will “encourage the open exchange of ideas… [and] provide for consideration of different or dissenting viewpoints.” The planned “restructuring” of NCAR, which appears to be motivated by discomfort with some of the scientific discoveries it has enabled, would suppress rather than encourage the open exchange of ideas and constrict rather than broaden the consideration of different viewpoints. The AAS requests that Congress exercise its oversight authority and investigate the basis for and process of NSF’s decision making about NCAR. The AAS further calls on Congress to exercise its appropriations authority and pass a budget for FY2026 that reflects its intent to strengthen US leadership in all areas of scientific research.

— Dara Norman, AAS President