The current regime’s attempt to dismantle the US government has reached NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. NOAA is the scientific and regulatory agency charged with forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, charting the seas, conducting deep-sea exploration, and managing fishing and the protection of marine mammals and endangered species in the US exclusive economic zone. NOAA has long been a target of client change deniers.

Staffers with Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) reportedly entered the headquarters of the NOAA in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC this week, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency.

Individuals affiliated with Elon Musk’s DOGE, have reportedly been given access to several internal databases and systems at NOAA, as they search for employees and programs related to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). NOAA Officials claim to have been told to expect up to a 50% reduction in staff as well as a 30% reduction in budget, as the Trump administration continues to search for “cost-cutting opportunities” in departments and agencies across the federal government.

“They apparently just sort of walked past security and said: ‘Get out of my way,’ and they’re looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies,” said Andrew Rosenberg, a former NOAA official who is now a fellow at the University of New Hampshire. “They will have access to the entire computer system, a lot of which is confidential information.”

Also, staff members at NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service Administration have been told this week to stop all contact with foreign nationals, including on international treaties and seafood catch limits, stoking confusion and fear among government scientists as the Trump administration begins to shape its vision for their work, reports the Washington Post.

The new instructions come as representatives of Elon Musk’s DOGE have meanwhile taken over internal NOAA websites, employees said, removing pages devoted to diversity-focused employee affinity groups. 

 Some details about the new orders to NOAA staff were first reported by WIRED on Wednesday, including that the ban on foreign communication also applied to an agency branch that oversees satellite-collected environmental data.

Separately, NOAA canceled a National Academies study on Wednesday that explored how quotas and permits affect the fisheries industry, including whether there were barriers preventing new entrants from participating in the industry.

Billionaire Elon Musk is unelected and not a government civil service employee but is the beneficiary of at least $15.4 billion in government contracts over the past decade. Musk has been described as “a walking conflict of interest.”

We’re witnessing the world’s richest man, who has been empowered to get into the back-end of virtually every facet of the U.S. government, continue to do simply whatever he wants — all while he has billions and billions at stake writes Chris Hayes.

In related news, President Trump has nominated Neil Jacobs to once again lead NOAA.

Dr. Jacobs is best known for “Sharpiegate.” Jacobs was the acting head of NOAA in the first Trump administration when Mr. Trump claimed in the summer of 2019 that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama. After a NOAA meteorologist in Alabama posted on social media that Dorian would not affect Alabama, Mr. Trump’s staff ordered NOAA leaders to say the meteorologist had been wrong, or risk being fired.

 Mr. Trump displayed a map of Dorian’s likely impacts. The map had been altered with a Sharpie pen to extend that area of impact to Alabama.

Dorian did not reach Alabama. But Dr. Jacobs bowed to that pressure, releasing a statement that called the posting by its Alabama weather office “inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time.” An investigation into the incident later rebuked Dr. Jacobs, saying he had violated the agency’s code of ethics.

Photo: Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Elon Musk’s DOGE entered NOAA headquarters, sources say

Thanks to David Rye for contributing to this post.