Fool's gold

Authors

David Michaels, David Michaels is a professor at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, Washington, DC, USA.
Wendy Wagner, Wendy Wagner is the Richard Dale Endowed Chair, School of Law, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA.

Document Type

Editorial

Publication Date

6-19-2025

Journal

Science (New York, N.Y.)

Volume

388

Issue

6753

DOI

10.1126/science.adz3920

Abstract

Already rocked by decades of political interference, corporate influence, mismanagement, and partisan efforts to undermine its authority, the expert bureaucracy, the "lifeblood" of the US administrative state, is now gasping for air. On 23 May, President Trump issued an executive order (EO)-Restoring Gold Standard Science-promising to fix these issues. Instead, the EO is poised to make them far worse: It officially empowers political appointees to override conclusions and interpretations of government scientists, threaten their professional autonomy, and undermine the scientific capacity of research and regulatory agencies.

APA Citation

Michaels, David and Wagner, Wendy, "Fool's gold" (2025). GW Authored Works. Paper 7397.
https://hsrc.himmelfarb.gwu.edu/gwhpubs/7397

Department

Environmental and Occupational Health