Sweeping cuts across the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) workforce risk derailing the nation's computing leadership, the Computing Research Association (CRA) claims.

The association, which works to bring academia, government, and industry together, called the move "the very definition of being pennywise and pound foolish."

In a statement after the NSF laid off around 12 percent of its staff, CRA said that the cuts were "a shortsighted move that will undermine American innovation and technological leadership and decrease our competitiveness and national security while delivering negligible cost savings."

The "deeply troubling, self-inflicted setback" also covers the NSF's Computing and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate, which is believed to have suffered deeper cuts.

"The CISE Directorate plays a critical role in the nation’s computing research ecosystem, supporting nearly 80 percent of fundamental computing research at US universities," CRA said in a statement.

"These investments - both in funding and expert personnel - have been instrumental in driving breakthroughs that power a $2 trillion IT sector, strengthen national security, and sustain US competitiveness in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, high-performance computing, and other key fields. Cutting CISE’s workforce not only disrupts this essential research but also jeopardizes the future of American leadership in computing."

The association noted that, while the US was cutting back, China was increasing its investment in critical research.

As part of the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort to cut federal workers, the NSF has laid off 168 employees, without severance. The firings targeted probationary employees, who have fewer job protections than permanent employees, but still must be fired for cause. The legality of the layoffs is still undetermined.

Some fired workers told NPR that they were permanent hires who were reclassified as probationary employees in January without explanation.

Intermittent experts, that is temporary employees with specific expertise, were also fired. An unknown number of employees are also set to leave thanks to President Trump's deferred resignation program, where employees can get paid up until 30 September if they leave now.

DOGE has cut workers across different federal agencies, and continues to look for more to cut. Last week, probationary employees were fired across the Department of Energy, impacting grid improvement work.

Among those laid off were around 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.

"This is a pivotal moment," deputy division director Rob Plonski said at the time. "We must decide whether we are truly committed to leading on the world stage or if we are content with undermining the very systems that secure our nation's future. Cutting the federal workforce responsible for these functions may be seen as reckless at best and adversarily opportunistic at worst."

DOGE then tried to unfire most of the NNSA employees, but how many will return remains unclear.