U.S. Democrats are expressing outrage after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has sought access to the IT systems of key government agencies, including NOAA.
“Elon Musk and his DOGE hackers are ransacking their way through the federal government, unlawfully gaining unfettered access to Americans’ private information and gutting programs people depend on. Now they have reached NOAA where they’re wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families’ safety and jobs,” U.S. Representative Jared Huffman (D-California) and U.S. Representative Zoe Lofgren (D-California) said in a joint statement.
Musk’s DOGE team has been working to swiftly gain access to IT and payment systems at key federal agencies and shutting down payments for programs that don’t align with the Trump administration’s priorities. DOGE has already effectively shuttered the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a federal organization that provided USD 73 million (EUR 70 million) for foreign fisheries development in fiscal year 2022.
Now, DOGE has turned its attention to NOAA, the agency charged with providing critical weather data and regulating the nation’s fisheries. DOGE reportedly gained access to NOAA offices and IT systems.
Politico reported that at least two NOAA-sponsored studies have been halted by the Trump administration – one of which was researching whether fishery quotas and fishing permits are distributed equitably – as part of the eradication of all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work.
"This is an outrageous and reckless assault on science, the economy, and the safety of coastal communities across the country,” U.S. Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D-Oregon) said in a statement. “The Trump administration, in a nefarious alliance with Elon Musk and DOGE, has its eyes on gutting NOAA – the very agency that tracks hurricanes, protects fisheries, and provides the basic weather data that businesses, farmers, first responders, and everyday people rely on.
NOAA scientists have also been ordered to pause “all international agreements,” according to an internal email obtained by Wired, including communications with foreign nationals and participation in international commissions.
“This directive is incredibly concerning for marine mammals abroad and our own fishing industry here at home,” Center for Biological Diversity International Director Sarah Uhlemann said in a statement. “NOAA Fisheries’ international efforts are mostly focused on trying to level the global economic playing field for our fishing industry by pushing other countries to match U.S. standards on conservation and labor practices. Blocking those conversations will only hurt the U.S. industry’s ability to compete and drive up the number of whales and dolphins getting tangled up and killed by fishing gear around the world.”
The head of NOAA’s Office of Human Capital Services – the agency’s HR department – was also placed on administrative leave, seemingly part of a government purge of employees connected to DEI initiatives. On his first day in office, U.S. President Trump signed an executive order “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs And Preferencing.” The administration has since ordered government agencies to eliminate DEI programs and scrub references to DEI initiatives from their websites.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also been targeted, with more than 160 employees placed on administrative leave.
“Career staff made determinations on which Office of Environmental Justice employees had statutory duties or core mission functions,” EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou told reporters. “As such, 168 staffers were placed on administrative leave as their function did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work. EPA is in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans.”
The Trump administration has also been pressuring federal employees to quit their government jobs through a deferred resignation program, offering financial incentives to those who agree to leave. A federal judge temporarily blocked that initiative in a 6 February ruling. According to the White House, 65,000 government employees signed up for the program.
Democrats have framed DOGE’s intrusion into the agency as an attack on NOAA’s scientific mission.
“This is also a blatant attempt to further the climate denialism that animates industry, and by extension, the Trump administration,” Huffman and Lofgren said in their joint statement. “It’s no secret that Trump and big oil donors want to ignore the science and erase all mention of climate change from the books. Their game plan is deviously simple: dismantle the agencies at the forefront of climate action and get rid of anyone who stands in their way. Fossil fuel-backed groups and their allies in Congress have been trying to do this for years – and now that Trump has handed over the keys to the castle to an unelected billionaire, they’re burning it down. This string of egregious, illegal power grabs and attacks on our democracy cannot stand.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has nominated former NOAA Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs to lead the agency once again.
Jacobs was criticized in a government watchdog report for violating the agency’s code of ethics and succumbing to political pressure during the incident, a finding which Jacobs disputed. The nomination has added to some observers’ fears about the scientific integrity of NOAA under the Trump administration.
“While Jacobs has relevant expertise and credentials, he has already proven he’s unfit to lead NOAA by failing to uphold scientific integrity at the agency. In his first stint as acting NOAA administrator, he made false statements about hurricane forecasting for political gain,” Rachel Cleetus, policy director for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a statement. “If he is to be confirmed as NOAA administrator, Jacobs must commit to upholding NOAA’s scientific integrity policy and standing up to any attempt to dismantle NOAA or commercialize its forecasting work, which proponents of Project 2025 have called for."
Democrats have tried to draw a connection between DOGE’s actions at NOAA and Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint that was tied to the Trump campaign in 2024, but the campaign denied any official connection with the document. Among other policies, Project 2025 proposed dismantling NOAA altogether and privatizing many of its functions.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, denied that he had any intention of dismantling or privatizing NOAA during testimony before U.S. senators 29 January.
Cuts to NOAA Fisheries may still be on the table, however. While Congress has kept the government running since October 2024 through continuing resolutions, lawmakers have yet to pass fiscal year 2025 budgets for multiple departments, including the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives had proposed cutting NOAA Fisheries in 2024, providing just USD 865 million (EUR 795 million) for the agency – USD 248 million (EUR 228 million) less than the agency received for fiscal year 2024 and USD 239 million (EUR 220 million) less than the Biden administration requested for 2025.
Complicating matters, the then Democrat-led Senate recommended fully funding NOAA Fisheries.
Ultimately, Congress was unable to pass either proposal, instead passing a continuing resolution to keep the government open while deferring any decisions on 2025 spending until after the 2024 election. Congress passed another continuing resolution in December, setting up budget negotiations to resume in 2025.
With the Trump administration now in office, Republican leaders are working on a budget blueprint to guide budget fiscal year 2025 budget negotiations.
Some Republicans have been pressuring House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to include bigger spending cuts in his budget blueprint, and NOAA Fisheries funding could be back on the chopping block.
Republicans now control the House, the Senate, and the executive branch.
