The destruction of the USA is often subtle and happens besides the big headlines of TV news shows.
It seems that it's not too late to change the course of the ship; however, I don't see it as possible.
The brain drain is taking its time.
24.03.2026, 21:40;
Author: Thomas Thiel, Editor in the Arts and Culture section.
(Google's) translation of:
www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/debatten/braindrain-wo-bleiben-die-amerikanischen-forscher-200662917.html
Assessment: This is a comment in one of the, if not
the most important, conservative newspapers in Germany.
The conflict between the American government and the scientific community is still unresolved. This is slowing the influx of American scientists to Germany.
Since the American government's frontal assault on science, there has been much anticipation surrounding the number of American researchers drawn to Germany. So far, the numbers are not high. The "Thousand Heads" program launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research in December has attracted 26 scientists from the United States to Germany. Meaningful figures will only be available after further application rounds have concluded. To speak of a brain drain at this point would be premature.
At the Max Planck Society, whose president, Patrick Cramer, has become the most vocal advocate for transatlantic recruitment efforts, the number of American scientists has even stagnated. However, the doubled or even tripled number of applicants for the society's own funding programs suggests a significant increase this year. It is said that more and more American Max Planck researchers are expressing a desire to remain in Europe, which was not the case previously. The number of Asian applicants has also grown, likely due to the stricter visa regulations in the United States. The Max Planck Society has responded to the anti-science sentiment in the United States with its own funding program.
Similar efforts are underway in other countries. In February, France announced the recruitment of 46 scientists through its "Choose France for Science" initiative. Almost all of them come from the United States, many from the fields of climate, diversity, and sustainability research, which are heavily restricted there. The European Research Council also reports a sharp increase in interest from American applicants for research grants. Its "Choose Science for Europe" program, launched in May 2025, aims to attract one hundred international scientists to Europe.
Sanctions halted
The reasons for this reluctance have often been cited: Europe cannot compete with the salaries offered by top American universities, and those being courted must consider whether to exchange a permanent position for a temporary scholarship in Europe. Another reason has emerged: The American government's rapid expansion has been halted, at least for now. The lightning attacks against universities and research agencies initially triggered feelings of powerlessness, but soon faltered. Many punitive measures were overturned by the courts due to a lack of legal basis. The government also suffered setbacks on other fronts. The drastic cuts to the research budget were halted by Congress. The budget of the EPA was not reduced by the planned twelve billion dollars, but only by 320 million dollars. The government also lifted the visa revocation for international students.
Universities like Columbia, Brown, and Northwestern are likely now regretting the deals they made with the government, deals that involved extortionate fines and forced them to make far-reaching concessions. Nevertheless, the battle is not over. Some rulings could be overturned on higher court. While the customs ruling indicated that the Republican-dominated Supreme Court does not blindly carry out the government's will, the government still has the option of enforcing its punitive measures on a second attempt, this time through legally sound means. Although Donald Trump's personal vendetta against the Ivy League no longer seems so important, there are still officials within the government who have a score to settle with academia.
Nor is it that the previous attacks have been ineffective. The pinpricks against universities continue. Most recently, the government sued the University of Pennsylvania to compel it to release the membership lists of Jewish institutions. Some of the Department of Education's anti-DEI measures remain in effect, and by no means all funding has been reinstated. Many scientists had to halt their research projects and lost their jobs, as did thousands of science administration staff. There is now a shortage of personnel to process grant applications. To make matters worse, the National Science Foundation now also plans to eliminate peer reviewers. The court rulings do not compel the authorities to award the same amount of funding in the future; they only address the specific withdrawal of grants. While visa restrictions have been lifted, a fee of $100,000 is now charged for the H-1B visa, which could significantly slow the influx of scientists to the United States.
The blind activism of DOGE staff has torn particularly deep gaps in climate research. When glaciologist Hajo Eicken arrived from Alaska on Wednesday to take over as director of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI), the devastation wrought by Trump's policies was behind him. The AWI has established a platform to recover data destroyed in the United States, after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) alerted it to the risks associated with the loss of these datasets. Some of the historical data gaps can be filled in Germany. The situation is different with current data, such as extreme weather forecasts, which are no longer being collected due to the failure of measuring stations and the lack of trained personnel.
The safety net is in place. The German government's "Thousand Heads Program," with a budget of €600 million for the next four years, is certainly nothing to scoff at. The ongoing reform of the preferential treatment ban should make Germany more financially attractive to American scientists. It's also certainly no mistake not to explicitly target recruitment programs to American scientists. The potential pool of foreign scientists relocating from the United States to Europe is substantial, and the open application process allows for further collaboration. There remains the hope that the storm over American science will have passed after four years.
