Open AccessUSGS retrenches, regroups after weathering budget hazards
Author(s) -
Carlowicz Michael
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/97eo00109
Subject(s) - agency (philosophy) , plan (archaeology) , geological survey , political science , public administration , management , sociology , history , geology , archaeology , economics , social science , paleontology
As is the case with many federal science agencies this year, the proposed budget for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is flat. There are few grand initiatives, but few deep cuts either. It is a proposal grounded in realism and stability at a time of national fiscal restraint. But such stability is more than welcome at an agency that has been turned upside down in the past three years. “We survived the threat of abolishment and a painful downsizing that cost us friends and friendships,” said Gordon Eaton, director of the USGS, while addressing agency employees in March. “We operated for half a year without a budget. We have gone through the birth pains of reinvention and re‐organization, and we have taken on new responsibilities… that were unthought of, and were even unthinkable, a decade ago. We have debated long and hard about our mission and our future and our strategic plan … All in all, it has been quite a ride these last three years.”