Ridiculous DOGE Policies Threaten An End To US Research Efforts In Antarctica

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By now, most people have seen the video of a drug crazed serial philanderer carpetbagger from South Africa wielding a giant chainsaw at a recent CPAC conference, an obvious reference to what he and his stooges at DOGE plan to do to the federal government, having been given carte blanche by the Madman of Mar-A-Loco to pare the size of the federal government any way they see fit. There is only a one-letter difference between manic and maniac, and at CPAC the mercurial Musk seemed to have crossed the line from the former to the latter. That difference could have a major impact on scientific research in Antarctica.

All of this is just political theater for the MAGA masses, but actions have consequences. The United States Antarctic Program operates three permanent stations in Antarctica. They are difficult to get to and difficult to maintain, being scattered as they are across that frozen continent. They are built on volcanic hills, polar plateaus, and icy peninsulas. But for the US, the science has been worth it. At these stations, over a thousand people each year come to Antarctica to operate major research projects that study everything from climate change and rising sea levels to the cosmological makeup and origins of the universe itself.

Stifling Scientific Research In Antarctica

With funding cuts and layoffs looming, Antarctic scientists and experts don’t know if their research will be able to continue, how US stations will be sustained, or what all this might mean for the continent’s delicate geopolitics, according to a report by Wired. “Even brief interruptions will result in people walking away and not coming back,” says Nathan Whitehorn, an associate professor and Antarctic scientist at Michigan State University. “It could easily take decades to rebuild.” USAP is managed by the National Science Foundation.

Last week, a number of NSF program managers involved with those Antarctic research projects were fired as part of a wider purge at the agency. Those managers are vital to maintaining communications with the infrastructure and logistics arm of the NSF and the contractors for the USAP. They are also responsible for planning deployment for scientists to the continent, keeping track of the budgets, and funding the maintenance and operations work. “I have no idea what we do without them,” says another Antarctic scientist who has spent time on the continent, along with several others WIRED granted anonymity due to fears of retaliation. “Without them, everything stops,” says a scientist whose NSF project manager was fired last week. “I have no idea who I am supposed to report to now or what happens to submitted proposals.” Nice going, Elon. No wonder you are so proud of yourself.

Scientific research happens at all of the stations. At the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, scientists work on the South Pole Telescope and BICEP telescope, both of which study the cosmic background radiation and the evolution of the universe. IceCube is a cubic kilometer detector designed to study neutrino physics and high energy emission from astrophysical sources, while the Atmospheric Research Observatory studies climate science. It is run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where mass firings are expected to happen soon. “The climate science [at the South Pole Station] is super unique,” an Antarctic scientist says. “The site has so little pollution that we call it ‘the cleanest air on Earth,’ and they have been monitoring the ozone layer and CO2 content in the atmosphere for many decades.”

An Obsession With Sex

Other directives from the current sex obsessed administration have directly affected daily life on those stations. “Gender-inclusive terms on housing documents” have been removed from Antarctic staffer forms, a source familiar with the situation at McMurdo Station tells WIRED. “It asked if you had a preference with which gender you housed with,” the source says. “That’s all been removed.” Some staffers have begun pushing back. “People have been painting waste bins saying ‘Antarctica is for ALL’ in rainbow, people’s email signatures [have] pride additions, [others] keep adding preferred pronouns to emails,” the source says. “There’s a sense of unease on the station like people have never felt before,” they add. “The job still has to get done, even though people feel like the next shoe can drop at any moment.” That unease extends to their own job security. “There are some people currently at the South Pole that are worried about losing their jobs any day now,” a source with familiarity of the situation tells WIRED. Workers present at the station aren’t able to physically leave until October, and a mid-season firing or loss of funding would present a unique set of challenges.

Sources tell WIRED that Germany, Canada, Spain, and China have already started taking advantage of that uncertainty by recruiting US scientists focused on Antarctica. “Foreign countries are actively recruiting my colleagues, and some have already left,” says one Antarctic scientist. “My students are looking at jobs overseas now … people have been coming [to the US] to do science my whole life. Now people are going the other way.” Another Antarctic scientist says, “Now is a great time to see if anyone wants to jump ship. I do worry about a brain drain of tenured academics, or students who are shunted out. The damage caused by gutting the [Antarctic] science budget like this is going to last generations.”

Throughout DOGE’s cuts to the federal government, representatives have said that if something needs to be brought back, it could be. In some cases, reversals have already happened: The US Department of Agriculture said it accidentally fired staffers working on preventing the spread of bird flu and is trying to rehire them. But in Antarctica, a reversal won’t necessarily work. “One of the really scary things about this is that if the Antarctic program budget is cut, then they’ll very quickly get to the point where they can’t even keep the station open, much less keep science projects going,” one scientist tells WIRED.

An Unforced Error In Antarctica

“If the South Pole [station] is shut down, it’s basically nearly impossible to bring it back up. Everything will freeze and get buried in snow. And some other country will likely immediately take over. Others share the fear of a station takeover. “Even if science funding is cut back, there is an urgent need for the US to invest in icebreakers and polar airlift capability. Otherwise at some point the US-managed South Pole station might not be serviceable,” says Klaus Dodds, an Antarctic expert and professor of geopolitics at Royal Holloway University of London.

Experts are concerned that countries like Russia and China — which have already been ramping up their influence in Antarctica — will quickly seek to fill the power vacuum. “Presumably it would be humiliating for anyone who wishes to promote ‘America First’ to witness China offer to take over the occupation and management of the base at the heart of Antarctica. China is a very determined polar power,” says Dodds. That assumes that any such person has the mental acuity to engage in rational thinking. The current US president, unfortunately, is a sociopath who is incapable of thinking of anything other than his own self-aggrandizing schemes.

Antarctica isn’t owned by any one country. Instead, it is governed by the Antarctic Treaty System, which protects Antarctica and the scientific research taking place on the continent and forbids mining and nuclear activity. Some countries, including China and Russia, have indicated that they would be interested in rule changes to the Treaty system, particularly around resource extraction and fishing restrictions. Traditionally, the US has played a key role in championing the treaty, “Many of the leading polar scientists and social scientists are either US citizens and/or have been enriched by contact with US-led programs,” says Dodds.

Actions Have Consequences

That leadership role could change quickly. The US also participates in a number of international collaborations involving major Antarctic scientific projects. A US pullback, Whitehorn says, “makes it very hard to regard the US as a reliable partner, so I think there will be a lot less interest in accepting US leadership in such things. … The uncertainty will drive people away and sacrifice the leadership the US already has.” Another says, “If the NSF can’t function, or we don’t fund it, projects with long lead times can just die. I’m sure international partners would be happy to partner elsewhere. This is what it means to lose US competitiveness.”

That, of course, is the tragedy of taking a chainsaw to things. Yes, it disrupts the status quo immediately, but it implies no thought of what the larger consequences might be. The same can be said of the outrageous tariffs being imposed willy nilly on America’s staunchest allies. Yes, they may extort some short-term gains for America, but at the same time they send a signal that America is not a trustworthy partner. No matter what happens on April 2, Canada is now on notice that it cannot trust its neighbor to the south. How long will it take to repair that rift? 10 years? 20 years? More?

Has anyone in the the current maladministration stopped to consider the consequences of ceding America’s influence over Antarctica to China or Russia? Actions speak louder than words and the intemperate and ill considered actions of the DOGE DOPES will blow back on the US in unknown and unknowable ways, a result that should be of grave concern to any national leaders, whether elected or unelected. That it is not demonstrates the extent to which the puerile puling of the so-called president and his chainsaw-wielding henchman are a clear and present danger to the best interests of America.