NIH faces renewed DOGE directive to cut staff, putting thousands in line for RIFs

Updated March 8 at 10:56 a.m.

The National Institutes of Health is planning to trim its workforce by around 3,400 employees, Government Executive has learned, though that goal is being set by the Department of Government Efficiency rather than anyone inside the agency. 

DOGE staff met with career officials as recently as Friday afternoon to reiterate the directive, which included an instruction to develop plans that would reset staffing levels to those NIH employed at the end of fiscal 2019. Acting NIH Director Matthew Memoli—a long-time career NIH employee—sat in on the discussion but political appointees for the Health and Human Services Department were not involved, according to a source familiar with the meeting. 

The involvement of DOGE comes just one day after President Trump held a cabinet meeting in which he instructed the group’s de facto leader Elon Musk, who also attended the White House gathering, to allow individual agencies to call the shots on workforce plans. Trump subsequently promised to use a "scalpel rather than a hatchet" in cutting federal workers and said agency leaders would work in concert with DOGE. 

At NIH, DOGE staffer Jeremy Lewin has led the charge on layoff, or reduction in force, plans, a source familiar with his involvement said. Rachel Riley, a former McKinsey consultant, has served as the agency’s DOGE point person. 

The source added there has been a disconnect between the directives career staff have received on their workforce plans and what the intentions are from HHS political appointees, who have been largely sidelined from the discussions. Career staff have expressed confusion over to whom they are answering. Trump has nominated Jay Bhattacharya to serve as NIH director, but he has yet to receive a vote in the Senate. Bhattacharya testified for a confirmation hearing this week. 

The cuts directive follows two executive orders President Trump issued calling for agencies to reshape their workforces and develop RIF and reorganization plans. Agencies must turn over their preliminary RIF plans to the Office of Management and Budget by March 13. Trump has repeatedly directed agencies to work with DOGE to develop those blueprints. 

While NIH has received a workforce reduction target, it has not received any instruction on what its priorities will be going forward and therefore what parts of the agency it should focus on for cuts. HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy and his staff have not communicated to NIH what his preferred outcome is, according to a source involved in those conversations. 

NIH employed around 21,100 employees as of September 2024, according to public data maintained by the Office of Personnel Management. At the end of fiscal 2019, it had around 17,700 employees. Filtering by only full-time, permanent staff, NIH will have to go from around 15,700 employees to around 12,700 employees. NIH will fire around 1,000 probationary employees—typically those hired within the last one or two years—who are currently on administrative leave by March 14, meaning the number of forthcoming RIFs will be somewhat mitigated. NIH has requested and been granted permission to save the jobs of some probationers who work in NIH’s Clinical Center. 

The agency is also requesting permission to offer early retirement and buyout incentives—capped at $25,000—to eligible employees. 

Career staff are expected to deliver a preliminary workforce plan next week, but a source familiar with those efforts said there are not yet any specific proposals to get down to the targeted staffing level. NIH did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., whose state houses the NIH headquarters in Bethesda where the vast majority of agency employees report, said he will press his Republican colleagues to stand against "these indiscriminate, harmful cuts." 

“This administration’s illegal attacks on our researchers and scientists will cost American lives," Van Hollen said. "Instead of focusing on opportunities to treat and cure life-threatening diseases, Trump and Musk are hell-bent on coming after those doing this good work."

Trump spoke at the White House on Friday in front of a chart that showed federal jobs decreasing last month while private sector jobs grew. 

“We're trying to shrink government and grow the private sector,” Trump said. “That's what we've been doing.”

This story has been updated with comment from Van Hollen.