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| - Soon after U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025, and the slew of executive orders that followed, claims (archived) circulated that space agency NASA was shutting down its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) offices.
On X the claim read, in part:
NASA is closing ALL agency DEI offices, efforts and contracts. They warn those trying to hide DEI that there will be consequences for it. Employees have 10 days to report anyone trying to conceal DEI in a new format or name.
The claims originated from a leaked memo reportedly sent to all NASA staff that was circulated across Reddit (archived), Facebook (archived) and X (archived). The memo said that NASA was taking steps to "close all agency DEIA [Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility] offices and end all DEIA-related contracts." The name Janet Petro, the acting NASA administrator, appeared at the bottom of the memo.
The full text read:
Dear agency employees,
We are taking steps to close all agency DEIA offices and end all DEIA-related contracts in accordance with President Trump's executive orders titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions.
These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination.
We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language. If you are aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies, please report all facts and circumstances to DEIAtruth@opm.gov within 10 days.
There will be no adverse consequences for timely reporting this information. However, failure to report this information within 10 days may result in adverse consequences.
Thank you for your attention to this important matter.
Janet Petro
A NASA spokesperson confirmed to Snopes that agency management sent the memo as seen above to staff on Jan. 21. The agency had "complied with the requirements" of DEIA-related executive orders issued by Trump, the spokesperson said. These orders called for the termination of DEIA programs and other related activities in the federal government, which includes NASA.
At the time of this writing, NASA's DEIA website was not accessible. Federal agencies such as NASA must comply with executive orders issued by the president. Therefore, we rate this claim true.
The full NASA statement on the memo read: "Our agency has complied with the requirements of the executive order and guidance from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management memorandum issued Jan. 21." The "guidance" in this statement refers to a memo sent out by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) also on Jan. 21. The OPM manages the civil service, meaning employees working for the government. Titled "Initial Guidance Regarding DEIA Executive Orders," the OPM memo includes the text in the NASA memo as a suggested email template for heads of agencies to send to their staff.
The NASA memo refers to two Trump executive orders: "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing" and "Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions." The former order calls for:
..the termination of all discriminatory programs, including illegal DEI and "diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility" (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.
The order gives agency, department or commission heads in the federal government 60 days to not only "terminate, to the maximum extent allowed by law" DEIA-related activities but also submit a list to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) detailing:
(A) agency or department DEI, DEIA, or "environmental justice" positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures in existence on November 4, 2024, and an assessment of whether these positions, committees, programs, services, activities, budgets, and expenditures have been misleadingly relabeled in an attempt to preserve their pre-November 4, 2024 function;
The NASA memo reflects these key points from the "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing" executive order. The first paragraph announced the closure of the agency's DEI operations and the third referenced "efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language." The order, however, did not specifically say that employees can or should report DEIA functions continuing to operate, as the NASA memo encouraged.
The other executive order referenced in the NASA memo called "Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions" revokes dozens of Biden-era executive orders, starting with Executive Order 13985 titled "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government." Former President Joe Biden signed this order on the first day of his administration on Jan. 20, 2021. The order made "a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all" a federal policy. Revoking Executive Order 13985 essentially removes this policy from Trump's administration.
At the time of this writing, NASA had already taken down the Diversity and Inclusion page on their website. According to the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, a program that archives pages across the web, the site was live on Jan. 19. NASA and other federal agencies must obey executive orders because the president is the head of the U.S. government and all the agencies within it.
That said, executive orders have historically been opposed at times. For example, in 1993, Congress passed a public law nullifying (canceling out) former President George W. Bush's Executive Order 12806 calling for the establishment of a fetal tissue bank. In 2025, a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's executive order that canceled birthright citizenship for children whose parent(s) were "unlawfully present" in the U.S. when they were born. Should Trump's executive orders on DEIA prove politically unpopular, Congress legislation or a legal challenge could be used to oppose them.
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