Trump ‘takes a knife to the jugular’ of federal science advice

The White House has demanded the elimination of a third of federal advisory committees in a move condemned by observers as fatal for the role of government science advice in the United States.

An executive order issued by president Donald Trump on 14 June decreed that federal agencies must each cut the number of their existing advisory committees by one-third by the end of September.  

The order places a cap of 350 on advisory committees across the US government. The General Services Administration, the federal facilities agency, puts the current figure at “at least 1,000”.