NOAA Leadership Violated Scientific Integrity Policy, Report Says

According to a review conducted by the National Academy of Public Administration that was released on June 15, 2020, leaders of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) violated the agency’s scientific integrity policy by issuing a statement contradicting the National Weather Service after President Trump claimed that Hurricane Dorian would impact Alabama. Last September, it was reported that the President pressured White House aides to have NOAA publicly correct forecasters at the Birmingham office of the National Weather Service (NWS), who insisted that Alabama was not actually at risk from Hurricane Dorian. NOAA, the parent agency for NWS, then issued an unsigned statement on September 6, 2019 saying the Birmingham NWS office was wrong to refute the President’s warning. According to the report, Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs and former NOAA Deputy Chief of Staff and Communications Director Julie Kay Roberts violated codes of the agency’s scientific integrity policy. “The development of the statement was not based on science but appears to be largely driven by external influence from senior Commerce [Department] officials who drafted the [September 6] statement,” the report concluded. The report recommends that NOAA staff undergo mandatory scientific integrity training and that the agency formalize an intra-agency agreement to guide interactions between the Commerce Department and NOAA officials when drafting NOAA communi...
Source: Public Policy Reports - Category: Biology Authors: Source Type: news