DOGE enters NOAA, accesses IT systems and removes the top HR official

The Department of Government Efficiency has requested and been granted access to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s IT systems and is already making personnel changes, multiple sources briefed on that matter have confirmed, raising concerns the new, Elon Musk-led team could interfere with scientific processes. 

Members of the DOGE team have entered both the Commerce Department—NOAA’s parent agency—and a NOAA building in Silver Spring, Maryland, according to congressional aides briefed on the matter by employees, and officials requested access to the agency’s IT systems. That access was subsequently provided for the stated purpose that DOGE was ensuring compliance with President Trump’s executive order to root out any diversity, equity and inclusion efforts from government. 

Also this week, the head of NOAA’s Office of Human Capital Services—the agency’s human resources team—was placed on administrative leave. NOAA referred questions to Commerce, which did not respond to a request for comment. The move follows the Trump administration and DOGE placing leaders at many agencies across government on administrative leave and its widespread efforts to shrink the federal workforce. 

Federal agencies across government have already sent preliminary lists of all employees working in DEI offices to the Office of Personnel Management and the White House, and have begun placing those individuals on administrative leave as the administration prepares to lay them off. In placing them on leave, agencies informed employees their programs “divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars and resulted in shameful discrimination.”

With access to NOAA’s systems and removing the top career HR official, DOGE team members may be clearing the way to investigate whether any remaining agency employees engaged in DEI efforts. Such efforts appear to be underway at least at some other federal agencies. 

Multiple U.S. Forest Service employees, for example, told Government Executive they can no longer access their performance review portal. When attempting to do so, an error message is displayed that says due to the DEI executive order the performance plans are “temporarily unavailable” and “employees and supervisors will not be able to view or complete any actions on performance plans.” 

“Stay tuned to this area for any future updates,” the message reads. 

Trump has nominated Neil Jacobs to lead NOAA. Jacobs served as acting administrator at NOAA in Trump’s first term and when Trump’s false claims about the path of Hurricane Dorian in 2019 led to the scandal known as “Sharpiegate.” Jacobs eventually told lawmakers and the Commerce inspector general that a statement seeking to back up Trump’s claims was drafted by top Commerce and White House officials. 

Lawmakers suggested DOGE’s intentions could run deeper than just the administration’s anti-DEI efforts. 

“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,” said Reps. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calf., the top Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee and the House Space, Science and Technology Committees, respectively. “Now they have reached NOAA where they’re wreaking havoc on the scientific and regulatory systems that protect American families’ safety and jobs.” 

Huffman and Lofgren raised concerns the DOGE members could be erasing mentions of climate change from NOAA systems and websites and said any interference with the agency’s National Weather Service would have dire consequences. 

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the top Democrat Senate appropriations panel with jurisdiction over NOAA, said he would look into the matter and “will not stand for it.” 

Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation document that included many policy and agency reform proposals the Trump administration has already implemented, called for NOAA to be “dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.” It also called for most of NOAA’s climate change research to be disbanded. 

Musk’s team, housed within the White House, has already gained access to the Treasury Department’s federal payment system and is deeply embedded at the Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration and other agencies. On Wednesday, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said DOGE would help his agency upgrade the nation’s aviation system.