The questionnaire President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team sent to the Department of Energy arrived with little fanfare (neither Al Gore nor Kanye West were dispatched as couriers), but it was delivered with the expectation that word of its contents would filter down to employees at every level of the agency. Among other unusual inquiries, it included a request for the names of officials and contractors who helped the government forge a global deal to combat climate change and worked on related efforts to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions.

On Tuesday, the Department responded to Trump with a bold-lettered refusal: “We will not be providing any individual names to the transition team.”

The solace to dedicated civil servants will last for another 37 days. After that, it’s anyone’s guess how aggressively Trump’s administration will seek to dismiss or marginalize government employees and contractors who study and implement environmental policy. But even if a great purge isn’t upon us, a great chill almost certainly is. After all, the names the Trump transition didn’t receive are known to the people who would’ve been on the list. Even if they’re lucky enough to keep their jobs in the new year, or to not get saddled with political appointees looking over their shoulders, many will be less likely to confront the administration with hard truths about climate change or fearlessly pursue good science.

The effect has already seeped outside the federal government, into the broader community of climate scientists who may not collect salaries directly from the federal government but depend on the federal government for research funding and crucial data. These scientists, according to The Washington Post, “have begun a feverish attempt to copy reams of government data onto independent servers in hopes of safeguarding it from any political interference.”

This kind of defensive paranoia is the visible reflection of the invisible but extensive chilling effect the incoming administration is likely having across many realms of public service and life. It is happening already, weeks before he officially assumes the presidency. And the most frustrating part is that we’ll never know how far it ultimately reaches.