White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Director Michael Kratsios issued a call today for the government and the U.S. scientific establishment to return to what he called “Gold Standard Science,” and in that context argued that the employment of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) principles in scientific fields would hinder that effort.
According to the text of a speech he delivered to the National Academy of Sciences, Kratsios pronounced that “DEI represents an existential threat to the real diversity of thought that forms the foundation of the scientific community.”
The OSTP director’s remarks about DEI policies fall squarely in line with Trump administration policies adopted since January that are seeking to rid the Federal government of DEI initiatives and that often have employed the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to root them out.
His speech also follows closely behind the National Science Foundation’s actions last month to terminate research awards into topics involving DEI and misinformation/disinformation. NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan quit his job as head of the agency a few days later.
In his remarks today, Kratsios said that the “first step to restoring trust in America’s scientific establishment, and rebuilding a strong foundation for breakthrough discoveries, is a return to Gold Standard Science.”
Among other attributes, he defined that standard as centering on findings that are rigorously tested, reproducible, and transparent, and a scientific community that “must proactively communicate errors and uncertainties.”
“Gold Standard Science is structured for falsifiability, subject to unbiased peer review, accepting of negative results as positive outcomes, and closed to conflicts of interest,” he said. “Funders of research, whether in government, the academy, or industry, need to come alongside our best researchers to ensure that projects conform to these highest standards.”
“And though this is a call to excellence for all of America’s scientists – in labs, in the field, and in offices across the country – it begins with me and my colleagues in government,” he said, adding, “Implementing Gold Standard Science starts in the policies and programs of Federal agencies.”
On the DEI front, Kratsios argued that “at the heart of the practices that make up Gold Standard Science is a suspicion of blind consensus and a celebration of informed dissent. For the crisis of confidence in scientists stems from fear that political biases are displacing the vital search for truth.”
“DEI initiatives, in particular, degrade our scientific enterprise,” the OSTP director asserted.
“DEI represents an existential threat to the real diversity of thought that forms the foundation of the scientific community,” he continued. “Diversity of thought is essential to scientific inquiry, empowering us to challenge entrenched assumptions and offer novel approaches to solving complex problems.”
“As we seek new paradigms in fundamental science, we cannot afford for America’s scientists to be in the business of scoring points for an ideological agenda,” Kratsios offered. “A closed-minded political fashion preoccupied with symbolic victories divides colleagues and distorts grant application and research design.”
The OSTP director referenced a policy at NASA, which he said required research proposals to include plans for further “inclusion goals” and for evaluation panels to be made up of “50 percent ‘DEI professionals.’”
“Such requirements undermine merit-based assessment of scientists, add to administrative burdens, and distract from essential, productive work,” Kratsios said.
“Science cannot be subject to ideology, nor should scientists march blindly in lockstep,” he continued.
“Blindly trusting in The Science, with a capital T and capital S, is inimical to free inquiry and open debate and is thus the enemy of scientific progress,” Kratsios said. “The beginning of knowledge is the knowledge of ignorance. We seek to know, despite human limitations, and to move upward from mere opinion to the truth. It is convention, dogma, and intellectual fad that resist revision and correction.”