"Members reportedly sought access to IT systems at agency that Project 2025 has called ‘harmful to US prosperity’"
"Staffers with Elon Musk’s “department of government efficiency” (Doge) reportedly entered the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Department of Commerce in Washington DC today, inciting concerns of downsizing at the agency.
“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.”
Project 2025, written by several former Trump staffers, has called for the agency to be “broken up and downsized”, claiming the agency is “harmful to US prosperity” for its role in climate science.
Rosenberg noted it had been a longtime goal of corporations that rely on Noaa data to prevent the agency from making the data public, instead of giving it directly to private corporations that create products based on it, such as weather forecasting services.
He also argued there was no legal authority to abolish Noaa or reduce its budget, outside of reducing it through Congress."
Michael Sainato reports for the Guardian February 4, 2025.
SEE ALSO:
"Democrats Raise Alarm Bells Over DOGE ‘Havoc’ At NOAA" (The Hill)
"DOGE Enters NOAA, Accesses IT Systems And Removes The Top HR Official" (Government Executive)
"This DOGE Engineer Has Access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration" (WIRED)
"DOGE Searches For DEI Information At U.S. Climate, Oceans Agency" (Axios)
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