WEATHERING HEIGHTS

Top NOAA Scientist Fired After Asking Trump Appointees to Acknowledge Agency Scientific Integrity Policy

Asked to pledge not to manipulate research to political ends, the agency’s newly appointed chief of staff asked, “Respectfully, by what authority are you sending this to me?”

The chief of staff at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration fired the agency’s acting chief scientist after the latter asked Donald Trump’s appointees to acknowledge NOAA’s scientific integrity policy, The New York Times reports. Craig McLean, the acting chief scientist at NOAA, sent an email last month to several new employees at NOAA who had been installed by the Trump administration requesting their acknowledgement of the agency’s rules that prohibit changing research and data to fit a political agenda. Dr. Erik Noble, the newly appointed NOAA chief of staff and a former White House policy adviser, wrote back, “Respectfully, by what authority are you sending this to me?” McLean said that his job as acting chief scientist entailed maintaining ethics across NOAA. Noble responded the next day, “You no longer serve as the acting chief scientist for NOAA. Thank you for your service.” In McLean’s stead, Noble hired Ryan Maue, a former researcher for a libertarian think tank. Maue has previously said scientists have made overly dire predictions about climate change. Trump’s administration has attempted to manipulate NOAA throughout his term.