Two top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, who led the investigation into the so-called “Sharpiegate” scandal, were placed on leave amid clashes with the Trump administration, according to a report.
Steve Volz, assistant administrator in the agency’s Satellite and Information Service, and Jeff Dillen, deputy general counsel for the agency, were placed on leave this week, CNN first reported.
They both worked on the investigation into the “Sharpiegate” scandal. In 2019, President Donald Trump drew a map with a black marker depicting a path for Hurricane Dorian, suggesting it would hit Alabama. The agency then issued a statement that contradicted its own scientists and supported Trump’s claims. The storm then hit near the Carolinas.
An investigation later found that NOAA’s leaders violated the agency’s scientific integrity policy. One of those leaders was Neil Jacobs, the man the president has nominated to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s vote on his nomination is scheduled to take place July 30.
A former NOAA official thought the timing of the moves was an “interesting coincidence.”
“It’s an interesting coincidence that less than a week before Neil Jacob’s senate committee vote, the two dedicated career civil servants who investigated him for scientific integrity violations around Sharpiegate were dismissed from service,” one former NOAA official told CNN.
A spokesperson for the agency offered explanations as to why both men were placed on leave.
“Mr. Dillen was placed on administrative leave by the department’s senior career attorney pending a review of performance issues over the past several weeks,” a spokesperson told the Washington Post in a statement. “Separately, Dr. Volz was placed on administrative leave on an unrelated matter.”
Volz, who has decades of experience in aerospace and is the agency’s longest-serving assistant administrator, similarly wondered whether the timing was coincidental.
“The question that I would ask is, why now?” Volz told the Washington Post. “Maybe the desire here is to get anybody who might slow down their ability to execute their plan out of the way. I think I’m one of those people.”
Discussions about privatizing some of NOAA’s satellite operations have also swirled and led to clashes between the officials and new Trump hires, the Post reported. Volz has also advocated for mainly relying on the government’s satellites while using private companies for data.
Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump’s second presidency, calls for NOAA to be broken up and for the National Weather Service to “fully commercialize its forecasting operations.” Trump has repeatedly disavowed Project 2025; many of its architects now work in the Trump administration.
