Fifteen years of service. Gone in six hours.
That’s the start of this post by my friend, David Biggs, a former Foreign Service Officer and team lead in science diplomacy at the U.S. State Department. I’ve known David for a long time, and I can’t stop thinking about what it means—not just for him, or his team, but for all of us.
What happened wasn’t just a round of layoffs. It was the deliberate dismantling of a critical function of American diplomacy: science and technology collaboration. This wasn’t trimming fat. This was slicing out the organs.
The office David worked in—part of a larger, decades-old network promoting U.S. science through global cooperation—was gutted in a Reduction in Force (RIF) that blindsided career civil servants. Experts in quantum computing, biotech, AI, and international research agreements were shown the door. And they weren’t alone. Across the U.S. government, science advisors and diplomats are being removed or pushed out under a thin veneer of bureaucratic restructuring, while political appointees rewrite the rules to consolidate control.
Why This Matters More Than Most People Realize
The U.S. doesn’t just lead the world in science because of private innovation. It does so because of a deeply interwoven system: federally funded basic research, public-private partnerships, global collaborations, and a diplomatic corps trained to negotiate complex scientific and technological agreements.
This system isn’t self-sustaining. It depends on people. People who know the cultures, the players, the frameworks. People like David and his team, who’ve spent decades cultivating trust across borders so the U.S. can stay ahead—not just militarily, but intellectually, economically, and ethically.
Their job wasn’t to wave flags or write press releases. It was to do the slow, meticulous, unsexy work of maintaining relationships, navigating international policy, and ensuring American scientists could partner with global counterparts on the research that drives future breakthroughs. Vaccine development. Clean energy. Cybersecurity. Climate forecasting. Quantum communications. The stuff that supports and builds not just prosperity, but survival.
Now? There’s no one left to do that work. And it’s not clear that anyone in power even cares.
The Long Tail of Strategic Neglect
I’ve spent my career in infrastructure and systems—digital, physical, and organizational. When you pull out key supports, the structure may not collapse right away. But rot sets in. Small failures compound. Then, one day, the roof gives way and everyone acts surprised.
What we’re seeing now is rot made visible: a hollowing out of institutional memory, diplomatic credibility, and technical capacity, done in the name of ideology, short-term optics, or sheer neglect.
And make no mistake—this isn’t limited to State. The same playbook is showing up at NIH, NSF, HHS, and even within the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House. Loyalty tests are replacing expertise. Partnerships are being abandoned. The bench of people with the knowledge and judgment to serve the public is being methodically cleared.
The Private Sector Can’t Fix This
One of the assumptions driving this gutting is that the private sector will simply fill the gap. That tech firms and VCs will carry the torch of innovation without government guidance, investment, or international scaffolding.
That’s not just naïve. It’s dangerous.
The breakthroughs that power our economy—things like the Internet, GPS, CRISPR, mRNA vaccines, and thousands more—started with basic research. The kind of research no private entity would touch without public support because it’s expensive, slow, and often uncertain. That research depends on a stable infrastructure of scientists, diplomats, regulators, and policymakers who can coordinate across borders and institutions.
Tear that down, and you don’t just lose talent. You lose the very conditions that made American innovation possible in the first place.
The Damage is Global. And Personal.
What struck me most in David’s post wasn’t just the systemic implications. It was the human one.
He writes about losing the best team he’s ever worked with. Experts now unemployed through no fault of their own. Careers derailed. Decades of knowledge walked out the door. And no plan for what comes next.
I’ve led teams long enough to know what that kind of loss means. It’s not just a brain drain. It’s a soul drain. It sends a signal to every smart, service-oriented person that expertise is expendable, that the mission doesn’t matter, and that loyalty to the truth will be punished.
And when that happens, the best people stop coming.
What We Stand to Lose
The scariest part? Most Americans will never notice. Not until it’s too late.
They won’t see the grant that never gets signed, the partnership that quietly dissolves, the international agreement that stalls because no one is left to write it. They won’t feel the ripple effects until the U.S. starts falling behind on climate solutions, medical breakthroughs, or next-gen security tech. By then, rebuilding what we had will take a decade—if we can even attract the talent back.
You can’t reboot trust. You can’t backfill institutional wisdom overnight. You can’t declare a new golden age of science with a press release.
You have to build it. Patiently. Thoughtfully. Strategically. And right now, we’re doing the opposite.
Final Thoughts
This isn’t just about politics. It’s about purpose. About the role the U.S. wants to play in a world increasingly shaped by science and technology.
Are we a partner? A leader? A force for shared progress?
Or are we something smaller—meaner, pettier, more afraid of knowledge than of falling behind?
David Biggs and his colleagues weren’t just scientists or civil servants. They were stewards of a fragile but essential idea: that collaboration across borders, driven by knowledge and public good, can make the world safer, smarter, and more humane.
Losing that idea is the biggest RIF of all.
