Career experts warn of decades of progress lost as administration fires staff, slashes budgets and buries data

Donald Trump’s second presidency has spelled upheaval or worse for multiple spheres of US government. But for science – long a key driver of the US’s global pre-eminence – it has heralded the perfect storm.

In public health, climate science, environmental protection and nuclear safety, seasoned career specialists have been left bewildered and often jobless under a ferocious onslaught from the president, apparently aimed at gaining control over a sector about which he has displayed strongly held views, if frequently flawed understanding.