The surprise suspension of two top National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials a week before Donald Trump's nominee to head the agency comes up for a vote next week is drawing scrutiny.
According to a report from CNN, Trump nominee Neil Jacob is expected to get his Senate vote on July 30th, and there are questions about his conduct from when he served as interim NOAA administrator. During that time, Trump notoriously used a Sharpie pen to alter a weather map as Hurricane Dorian bore down on the U.S. mainland in 2019.
The episode was dubbed "Sharpiegate."
On Thursday, Steve Volz, who heads NOAA’s satellites division, and deputy NOAA general counsel Jeff Dillen, were notified they had been relieved of their duties, with Volz informed that it was due to an “investigation” into his “recent conduct" — without any further explanation.
The report noted that the two were involved in the investigation of Jacob after the map scandal.
RELATED: 'I don't know': Trump swears he has no idea how Sharpie alterations to Hurricane Dorian map happened
According to one NOAA insider, the timing of the suspensions is suspect.
“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,” the former official offered.
CNN's Andrew Freedman added, "NOAA’s satellites division is at the center of debates over how much to rely on the private sector for space-based weather observations versus building often more expensive public satellite constellations. Volz has been a major proponent of continuing to rely mainly on NOAA operated satellites, while entering into data purchase agreements with private companies as well.
"That work will now fall to his replacement, Irene Parker, the satellite division’s third-in-command and a close confidante of Jacobs, according to a former NOAA official."
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