HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) The acting chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said his agency likely violated its scientific integrity rules last week when it publicly chastised a weather office that contradicted President Donald Trumps claim that Hurricane Dorian threatened Alabama.
Two top NOAA civil servants not so quietly revolted against an unsigned agency press release issued late Friday rebuking the Birmingham weather office for saying Alabama was safe. The agencys top scientist called Fridays release political and the head of the National Weather Service said the Alabama office did what any office would do to protect the public.
My understanding is that this intervention to contradict the forecaster was not based on science but on external factors including reputation and appearance, or simply put, political, acting chief scientist and assistant administrator for ocean and atmospheric research Craig McLean wrote to staffers Sunday night.
In the email, first reported by The Washington Post, McLean said he is pursuing the potential violations of the agencys science integrity policy.
NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen said Monday, NOAAs policies on scientific integrity and communications are among the strongest in the federal government, and get high marks from third party observers. The agencys senior career leaders are free to express their opinions about matters of agency operations and science. The agency will not be providing further official comment, and will not speculate on internal reviews.
Meanwhile, another career civil servant, National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini said forecasters in Birmingham did the right thing Sept. 1 when they tried to combat public panic and rumors that Dorian posed a threat to Alabama.
They did that with one thing in mind: public safety, said Uccellini, who prompted a standing ovation at a meeting of the National Weather Association by asking members of the Birmingham weather staff to stand.
Only later, when the retweets and politically based comments started coming to their office, did they learn the sources of this information, he said.
Kevin Laws, science and operations officer for the weather service in Birmingham, declined comment on Uccellinis remarks.
I think the speech speaks for itself, Laws said.
McLean in his letter said the Birmingham staff corrected any public misunderstanding in an expert and timely way as they should. There followed, last Friday, an unsigned press release from NOAA that inappropriately and incorrectly contradicted the NWS forecaster.
McLean said that the NOAA Scientific Integrity Policy tells all agency employees to approach all scientific activities with honesty, objectively, and completely, without allegiance to individuals, organizations, or ideology.
He said the Friday NOAA press release compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information and violated NOAAs policies of scientific integrity.
The policy said employees should not intimidate or coerce employees, contractors, recipients of financial assistance awards, or others to alter or censor scientific findings.
The scientific integrity policy is not criminal and has no punishments, said former NOAA general counsel and deputy administrator Monica Medina, who served in the Barack Obama and Bill Clinton administrations. She praised McLean and Uccellini for looking into the matter and holding their current leadership accountable.
