> Individual grants will also require clearance from a political appointee and "must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President’s policy priorities."
> The order also instructs agencies to formalize the ability to cancel previously awarded grants at any time if they're considered to "no longer advance agency priorities."
The key phrase in the article is "political appointee". Previously, approval was by government employees who had expertise in the given field.
Until now, once you got a grant, you could count on it.
Now? One of your grad students says something a little too on the nose on Bsky, and your lab gets shut down.
Grants were always under political control, right?
Sure. In the same vein, you have always been at war with Eurasia.
Probably not. Grants were always under political control, right? This is just shifting political control from one part of a government agency to another part of the government agency.