NSF Director Neal Lane on Government Shutdown

During last week’s meeting of the American Astronomical Society, National Science Foundation Director Neal Lane provided his thoughts on the three week government shutdown. Lane’s January 15 speech was entitled, “Thin Ice Over Deep Water: Science and Technology in a Seven Year Downsizing.” See FYI #9 for Lane’s observations on the role of scientists in the political process.

“The government shutdown was senseless, wasteful, and many would say irresponsible governance; hence my heavy heart and disgruntled spirit. The phrase `non-essential employee,’ used to describe those who were not required by law to be at work and were not allowed to work even voluntarily--by law--and other intentionally demeaning terms, casually and callously tossed about during the shutdown, were deeply offensive to Federal workers.

“At NSF, we returned from the shutdown to the sight of over 20 large mail room carts crammed one against the other, brimming over with four weeks of proposals and correspondence. The last report I had showed over 2,000 proposals in the queue (on the average, we receive and log in about 240 proposals per day.) On a single day last week, I know we received over 900 proposals. So, I expect that the queue is up to 3,000 by now.... During the shutdown, many of our facilities, including astronomical facilities, began to run out of money. We considered truncating this season’s Antarctic program. We will soon face a decision about the next (winter) season since NSF funding runs out on January 26. [See FYI #7.]

“Many continuing grants ran out of funds, and there are likely to be funding gaps for some renewals and substantial delays in funding new awards. A large number of panels, site visits and other reviews, and a meeting of the National Science Board had to be canceled or postponed. Some new programs may be delayed by six months to a year or canceled. And there are many other serious and urgent problems.

”...this year cannot be business as usual. The time period we have lost is one that is critical to the smooth functioning of the proposal review and award process. There is simply no way to avoid some negative impact of a month’s shutdown. We will do everything we can to limit the impact, but we will not lower the review standards. We will be asking for your patience and understanding as our program officers attempt to get us back in...business.

“The entire sordid episode has, I believe, irreversibly changed the image of public service, and I’m very worried about the implications for NSF as well as other agencies.”