NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration has fired members of an independent board that oversees the National Science Foundation.
Members of the National Science Board received an email on Friday sent from the Presidential Personnel Office “on behalf of President Donald J. Trump" stating that their position was “terminated, effective immediately.”
“I wasn’t entirely surprised, to be honest,” said dismissed board member Keivan Stassun in an email. Stassun, who works at Vanderbilt University, added that the decision was “enormously disappointing.”
The National Science Board was created in 1950 to advise the president and Congress on science and engineering policy, approve major funding awards and guide NSF’s future.
It's typically made up of 25 members appointed by the president who serve staggered, six-year terms. The fired scientists hail from academia and industry and specialize in areas including astronomy, math, chemistry and aerospace engineering.
Every member of the current 22-person board was let go, according to terminated member Yolanda Gil. The board had planned to meet in person next week and was finalizing a report on the state of U.S. science, Gil said in an email.
“I think this is one more indication of the sweeping changes that the administration has in mind for the NSF,” said Gil, who works at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California.
Maria Cantwell, the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, said in a statement the move was “a dangerous attack on the institutions and expertise that drive American innovation and discovery."
The Trump administration tried to cut the science foundation's $9 billion budget by more than half last year. Congress maintained NSF's funding, but a similar slash is once again on the table for the coming year.
Without an advisory board in the way this time, Stassun said, such cuts may be easier to execute.
It could “eviscerate investments in fundamental research and in the training of the next generation of scientists and engineers for our nation," Stassun said.
The science foundation's headquarters was also relocated to a smaller building. Last year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it would be moving into the NSF's former base in Alexandria, Virginia.
The National Science Foundation directed a request for comment to the White House. In an emailed statement, the White House said the powers given to the National Science Board when it was created may need to be updated. The science foundation's work “continues uninterrupted,” the statement said.
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FILE - The headquarters of the National Science Foundation is photographed May 29, 2025, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - The headquarters of the National Science Foundation is photographed May 29, 2025, in Alexandria, Va. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
U.S. and Iranian negotiators are in Switzerland on Sunday for talks on working out key details of their interim agreement to end the Iran war.
A team led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance, including Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, is to meet with Iranian negotiators led by parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
Pakistani envoys are also in place, as well as Qatari mediators, for the technical-level discussions to end the conflict that began in late February.
Vance said he was optimistic about making progress in talks about Iran’s nuclear program and a ceasefire in southern Lebanon.
On the eve of the talks, Tehran announced it has closed the Strait of Hormuz again over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon, as well as calling for billions of dollars of Iran’s assets to be unfrozen.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose American tolls in the strait if a final deal with Iran isn’t reached in 60 days. The interim agreement calls for toll-free travel for 60 days in the waterway that is vital for the world's oil supply.
Here is the latest:
Rafael Grossi, chief of the U.N. nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — met with Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis on the sidelines of the gathering at the picturesque mountainside resort near Lake Lucerne on Sunday morning.
The agency had monitored the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated between the U.S. and Iran under the Obama administration.
Trump in 2018 withdrew the U.S. from that agreement.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei says Tehran will mainly focus during the talks on Sunday on the ongoing fighting in Lebanon.
Tehran insists that the deal’s implementation start with a cessation of all fighting — including between Israel and Hezbollah.
Baghaei said the U.S. “has been unable or unwilling” to hold Israel to the ceasefire.
Iran will meet in the morning with Pakistani and Qatari mediators, and in the afternoon, there will be a four-way meeting including the U.S. negotiating team. There is currently only one day of negotiations planned, Baghaei told the state news agency.
“The implementation of any document is more important than its signing,” Baghaei also said Sunday.
Iran’s president has said that Iran will maintain its right to a nuclear program.
“What is certain is that we will never back down from the right to enrich uranium, and the other side is also forced to accept it,” Masoud Pezeshkian said on Sunday, according to state media.
As the U.S.-Iran talks were to kick off in Switzerland, a ceasefire appears to be holding in Lebanon, a lull that came after another day of heavy fighting.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reported over 50 killed in Israeli strikes since the deal was signed on Thursday. Five Israeli soldiers were also killed.
Israel says it targeted Hezbollah infrastructure on Saturday, including a tunnel network in the southern Lebanese town of Kfar Tebnit.
But by Sunday morning, residents in southern Lebanon reported a lull in Israeli strikes. There also were no reports of Hezbollah fire from the Israeli side.
Israel’s military has received instructions to uphold the ceasefire, and said it is only acting defensively, according to an Israeli military official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with military guidelines.
—Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir are also in Switzerland for the high-level U.S.-Iran talks, the prime minister's office said without providing further details.
The technical-level talks at Bürgenstock Resort near the Swiss city of Lucerne are being held after Sharif dispatched his special envoy, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, to Tehran to persuade Iranian authorities to send a delegation to Switzerland. The meeting was originally scheduled for Friday but was delayed because of concerns raised by Iran.
Naqvi later informed Islamabad that Iran was willing to attend the talks. Pakistan subsequently conveyed the development to Washington.
The strait has emerged as a key focus, with Iran’s joint military command saying on Saturday that it was closed again because of the U.S. “clear breach of its commitments” by failing to end the war. The interim deal is meant to stop fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon where Israeli forces are battling the militant Hezbollah group.
The U.S. disputed Iran’s announcement, with the U.S. Central Command saying that traffic continues to flow and that 55 merchant ships transited on Saturday with more than 17 million barrels of oil.
Ships began transiting after the interim U.S.-Iran agreement was signed last week. The U.S. lifted its blockade of Iran’s ports and now allows Tehran to sell its oil freely — terms that have left some in U.S. Congress asking whether the war was worth it.
The interim deal signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian gives negotiators 60 days to reach a nuclear agreement, but the time can be extended.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, right, meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
U.S. Vice President JD Vance waits, alongside U.S. President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff, second right, and Jared Kushner, right, to meet with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
Flags of the U.S., Qatar, Iran, Pakistan, Nidwalden and Switzerland, from left, are seen at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone Pool via AP)
U.S. Vice President JD Vance, gestures as he meets with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, during high-level talks aimed at advancing a deal to end the Middle East conflict, at the Bürgenstock Resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, in Switzerland, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance speaks to reporters at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, June 20, 2026, en route to Switzerland. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool Photo via AP)
Vice President JD Vance, center, and second lady Usha Vance, left, walk from Marine Two as they arrive at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Saturday, June 20, 2026, en route to Switzerland. (Elizabeth Frantz/Pool Photo via AP)
Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, center, arrives at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, center, arrives at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, center, and Speaker of the Islamic Parliament of Iran Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf, left, arrive at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, early Sunday, June 21, 2026. (Urs Flueeler/Keystone, Pool via AP)
