At an emotional meeting, foundation officials announced layoffs for about 10 percent of their workforce and warned of more firings to come.

Panch has been conveniently absent throughout this whole time,” said an internal email an NSF worker sent to fellow colleagues, referring to Sethuraman Panchanathan, NSF’s director.

Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.