Biden-Harris Admin Requires ‘Corrupt’ DEI ‘Ideological Litmus Test’ on NASA Innovation Funding, Scientists Say

The Biden-Harris administration has been conditioning funding at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to advance research in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Medicine (STEMM) on “diversity statements” and equity requirements in what academics are calling a “politicized litmus test.”

From day one, the Biden-Harris administration announced it would overhaul every single agency with the ideals of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). It ensured there were DEI bureaucracies in place to impose its agendas regularly.

Not only did the DEI mission affect training, internal policies and hiring, but how federal agencies selectively funded and advanced scientific research, according to academics who spoke to Fox News Digital. They added that the DEI mandates are a risk to national security as it depletes America’s competitive edge against adversaries.

“This is a very, very bad idea. It’s corrupt, and it is corrupting,” Princeton professor Robert George told Fox News Digital, adding the DEI agenda “came on like gangbusters.”

“Our science has to be the best in the world,” he said. “If we are not in a position to defend ourselves and to deter that kind of aggression [from adversaries], we’re going to be very, very badly harmed. Our people are going to be very, very badly harmed.”

Those inclusion plans would then be scored, according to NASA’s Amanda L. Nahm, a program officer in the Planetary Science Division. She said that proposals which do not have the “inclusion” agenda will not be considered because they are “non-compliant proposals.”

When asked about the consequences of filling out a statement of refusal, she said, “it would not be reviewed well,” but then added that it wouldn’t affect the scientist’s merits of being given funds.

“At their core, inclusion plans are designed to raise awareness of barriers to creating and sustaining positive, inclusive working environments and to get proposers actively thinking about ways to foster inclusive practices for their research teams,” Nahm said.

A slidedeck of the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), reviewed by Fox News Digital, stressed that “Inclusion is a core NASA value and SMD is committed to fostering a more diverse and inclusive community.”

The DEI-inspired statements required scientists to “address ways in which the investigation team will work to attenuate or reduce these barriers.”

It also recommended they hire diversity consultants to “advise the team on the proposed… activities (consider paying them well, too!).”

Renowned chemist Anna Krylovat of the University of Southern California told Fox News Digital, “It’s not cultural war. It’s a war for our future. Unless we divorce this practice, the consequences for everyone will be very grim.”

Krylovat hails from Soviet Russia and attributes the communist country losing the Cold War to its politicizing science. {snip}

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In 2021, Biden signed an executive order titled “Equity and Excellence: A Vision to Transform and Enhance the U.S. STEMM Ecosystem.” It promised to radically shift the way STEMM is funded to ensure that “science and technology both includes and benefits all of America.”

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Under this executive order, agencies such as the Department of Energy, NASA and the National Institutes of Health prioritized DEI agendas in place of the scientific merits of the research, according to George and his colleagues. They go as far as alleging the agencies have been playing politics in conditioning the funding.

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