Trump Taps Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy As Acting Nasa Chief

Amidst unprecedented fund cuts and looming layoffs, U.S. President Donald Trump has appointed Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy arsenic acting NASA Administrator.

The assignment is temporary, and Duffy will proceed starring nan Department of Transportation while assuming nan NASA role, Trump said in a post connected his societal media site, Truth Social.

“Sean is doing a TREMENDOUS occupation successful handling our Country’s Transportation Affairs, including creating a state-of-the-art Air Traffic Control systems, while astatine nan aforesaid clip rebuilding our roads and bridges, making them efficient, and beautiful, again,” Trump said.

The assignment is highly unusual. There is nary precedent for an acting DOT main besides starring NASA, moreover connected an interim basis. Historically, NASA Administrators person mostly been erstwhile astronauts, long-time NASA bureaucrats, erstwhile congresspeople aliases subject veterans.

Duffy has nary general inheritance successful subject aliases space, though nan DOT does oversee nan Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees commercialized abstraction proscription and aerial postulation control. As he will execute some activity roles simultaneously, it’s apt that his NASA tenure will beryllium focused connected implementing Trump’s near-term argumentation goals.

Those goals see wide-ranging cuts to NASA’s fund that will apt slash galore subject initiatives and steeply trim its workforce. The cuts, arsenic spelled retired successful nan White House’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” would trim nan agency’s backing by 25% and alteration headcount by 5,000.

Duffy’s assignment comes conscionable weeks aft Trump abruptly withdrew his information of billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman to NASA Administrator. Isaacman, who made his luck from his institution Shift4 Payments, has flown to abstraction doubly connected backstage SpaceX missions. Trump said he rescinded support pursuing a “thorough reappraisal of anterior associations,” citing Isaacman’s donations to Democratic candidates and nan billionaire’s adjacent ties to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Trump’s reversal connected Isaacman reportedly led to nan souring of relations betwixt nan president and Musk.

“I besides thought it inappropriate that a very adjacent friend of Elon, who was successful nan Space Business, tally NASA, erstwhile NASA is specified a large portion of Elon’s firm life,” Trump said in a separate Truth Social post.

Duffy replaces Kennedy Space Center head Janet Petro, a long-time NASA bureaucrat. It’s unclear really agelong he will stay successful nan position.