Musk Targeting Key Weather Forecasting and Scientific Research Agency, Van Hollen Says

WASHINGTON – Elon Musk’s staff has been at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) headquarters, according to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and former NOAA official Mary Glackin.

The headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration headquarters here has been visited by billionaire Elon Musk’s team, according to Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen and a former NOAA official. (Photo courtesy of NOAA Heritage)

In an X post Tuesday night, Van Hollen said that billionaire Musk, recently appointed “special government employee” by the White House, has his sights set on NOAA.

“Hearing reports that Musk’s cronies are targeting NOAA — infiltrating key systems & locking out career employees,” the senator posted. “NOAA is vital for weather forecasting, scientific research & more. Their critical work saves lives.

My team and I are looking into this & we will not stand for it.”

Van Hollen, a Democrat, said in a statement to Capital News Service: “Elon Musk’s lawless heist of our government should concern every American. Targeting NOAA as part of this unprecedented takeover will not improve government efficiency, instead, it will jeopardize critical work that saves lives.”

According to Van Hollen’s office, Musk representatives have been at NOAA Building 2 in Silver Spring, Maryland. In addition, at least one individual associated with Musk visited the Department of Commerce in Washington, requested and was granted access to NOAA’s information technology systems to check on compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive order to end all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government, according to Van Hollen’s office.

Glackin, who was deputy under secretary for operations at NOAA from 2007 until 2012 and a former president of the American Meteorological Society, said Musk’s team was in the agency’s headquarters Tuesday. She said she also noticed the agency’s websites had been shut down, she told CNS. She did not specify the timing of the changes to the websites.

NOAA is a government agency under the Department of Commerce, and is headquartered in Silver Spring. The agency delivers daily weather forecasts and warnings, as well as monitors the climate through fisheries management, coastal restoration, and more to provide the public with information about the changing environment.

“They are trying to vilify and force out talented, hardworking, and principled federal workers at NOAA who have devoted their careers to monitoring storms and other natural disasters that threaten communities across the country,” Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Maryland, said in a statement provided to CNS.

NOAA has about 12,000 employees, as reported by the agency on its website page updated two days ago. If Musk’s call to target the agency is successful, this could potentially impact a large number of federal employees, contributing to the growing wave of governmental job cuts.

Dr. Brad Colman, a former NOAA employee of 38 years, said that the NOAA is more than a domestic agency, and is very involved with international affairs, labeling the weather enterprise as the envy of the world. NOAA works with the public sector, private industry, and academia to form a solid synergy, Colman added. Colman said he is in communication with his former colleagues and current NOAA employees.

“There’s a lot of nervousness and concern,” Colman said. “There’s just frustration that it seems like the details are being missed.”

The agency plays a critical role in saving lives, as Van Hollen stated in his X post. In 2024, NOAA’s work helped save 411 people from life-threatening situations, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, said on MSNBC that he sees “tell-tale signs of a coup,” in the recent actions of Musk, whose teams have gained access to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Department of Labor, the Treasury Department and other federal agencies. To Raskin, Musk has attempted to take over the country through the targeting of the communications, government, data and military infrastructure.

“Elon Musk and Donald Trump are targeting NOAA for the same reason they’re targeting every other federal agency—they don’t want the government to function ‘For The People,’” Hoyer said.

Trump nominated Neil Jacobs to lead NOAA just Tuesday. Jacobs, who used to lead the agency, was involved in the “Sharpiegate” incident in 2019, in which Trump falsely claimed that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama and drew the path on a map.

“Elon Musk, he may get to be a dictator at Tesla, but he doesn’t get to be a dictator in Washington,” Van Hollen said in a video posted to X.

By JADE TRAN, JESS DANINHIRSCH and TOLU TALABI
Capital News Service