Shutdown Tarnishes Government’s Brand, and It Could Get Worse

NASA scientists don’t grow on trees, and the partial shutdown that ended Jan. 25 could make it harder to recruit them in the future. A second shutdown in 2019, which could happen as early as Feb. 16, might lead to more damage to NASA and other federal agencies.

“Our ability to attract, recruit, and retain quality people is tangibly diminished” by the just-ended 35-day shutdown, Paul Greenberg, a scientist at NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, told Bloomberg Law. Greenberg is also vice president of Local 28 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, an AFL-CIO affilate that ...