White House Ousts Entire National Science Board

Ah, the WH has discovered a breathtakingly elegant shortcut to governance: if you sack the entire National Science Board in one go, you skip all that tedious hearing-and-amendment process. Inside Higher Ed reports that on April 27, 2026, the whole lot of NSF overseers got their marching orders — just like that. Twenty-four academics, engineers, and scientists, gone because the administration presumably decided nuance is for novices. Decisive!

The NSB, lest we forget, stewards nearly $9 billion in university research funding, from materials science to precisely the kind of foundational AI safety work these folks have historically been a bit of a buzzkill about. Want fewer 'go slow' technologists? Remove the body that houses them. The message: 'You are all board members of the NSF — you are all fired.' Wonderful, the open meeting act is going to run riot when industry lobbyists fill those empty seats next month — if that 'accountable' AI executive order was any guide.

Of course, the national directive insists this is about speed and merit. Replace cautious professors with... more-compliant captains of industry? Who knows! Congress hasn't been in session for anything like it, and the American Physical Society will find its voice any day now. In the meantime, AI research oversight just got a whole lot quieter. Slightly colder, even. Nurse, pass the gin.