DOGE searches for DEI information at U.S. climate, oceans agency
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DOGE representatives at NOAA are combing through IT databases to find employees associated with DEI initiatives, according to a source familiar at the oceans and atmosphere agency.
Why it matters: How Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency handles NOAA's information resources and workforce is critical for Americans since the agency provides severe weather warnings, researches climate change, protects fisheries and more.
- Employees were told DOGE is looking for "DEI content," the person familiar stated.
Zoom in: Two agency sources who requested anonymity for fear of retribution identified a DOGE employee at NOAA who is in the agency's online personnel directory, with a non-working phone number.
- A request for comment to that person's NOAA email address wasn't immediately returned.
- According to one source, who works for one of NOAA's multiple line offices, employees were emailed late Tuesday night and told to give this person edit access to internal intranet sites.
- Axios viewed a copy of the email that cited instructions from acting Secretary of Commerce Jeremy Pelter and acting NOAA Administrator Nancy Hann.
The intrigue: These sites would include employee resource groups, such as Pride at NOAA and Women at NOAA.
- The information would include their membership, internal newsletters, training documents and personnel management information, they said.
- DOGE has searched for similar content at other federal agencies, and the virtual closure of USAID via DOGE representatives and the State Department has employees across the federal government on edge.
- NOAA's workforce has experienced whiplash in the past 24 hours as its next administrator, Neil Jacobs, was nominated to the post after serving in an acting capacity under Trump 1.0.
At nearly the same time, word came that DOGE representatives had arrived at the agency.
- Yes, but: The content turned over wouldn't encompass the agency's vast climate and extreme weather data or operational weather and climate forecasts.
- Anxiety levels among the workforce there are high in part because the influential Project 2025 report calls for the agency's climate work to end, the National Weather Service to privatize and the agency to be broken up overall.
- Both Jacobs and Commerce Secretary Nominee Howard Lutnick have voiced opposition to that proposal.
What they're saying: Democratic Reps. Jared Huffman and Zoe Lofgren of California blasted Trump and DOGE for bringing the cost-cutting group into NOAA at all.
- "Now they have reached NOAA where they're wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families' safety and jobs," they said in a statement. "Americans rely on NOAA's services, day in and day out."
Go deeper:
Trump nominee disavows Project 2025's plan to break up NOAA
Scoop: Trump nominates Neil Jacobs to head NOAA
Next NOAA chief faces mounting challenges, including AI forecasts
