The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration placed two veteran officials on administrative leave Friday, NOAA’s communications director confirmed to POLITICO.
Jeff Dillen, who was serving as NOAA deputy general counsel, and Stephen Volz, assistant administrator for NOAA’s Satellite and Information Service, were both placed on leave for separate issues, according to Kim Doster, the agency’s communications director.
“Mr. Dillen was placed on administrative leave by the department’s senior career attorney pending a review of performance issues over the past several weeks,” Doster said in a statement, adding that Volz was placed on leave “on an unrelated matter.”
CNN first reported the administration’s move.
Dillen and Volz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
It comes less than a week before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee takes up the confirmation of Neil Jacobs, President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead NOAA as its administrator.
Jacobs served as NOAA’s acting administrator during Trump’s first term, where he found himself embroiled in the “Sharpiegate” scandal, in which he and another NOAA official, Julie Roberts, were accused of pressuring scientists to alter the forecast of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which killed dozens of people. Jacobs and Roberts were attempting to align the forecast with statements made by Trump, who said in the Oval Office that the hurricane would hit Alabama.
In 2020, Volz led the investigation into Jacobs and Roberts, and found that the two officials violated the agency’s “scientific integrity policy.”
Rick Spinrad, the former NOAA administrator under the Biden administration, said he worked closely with Volz and Dillen, and neither had expressed any opinions about the “Sharpiegate” incident: “I mean, these are just rock solid people,” Spinrad said. With respect to Dillen, Spinrad said: “I relied on him heavily for his legal expertise and his acumen regarding case law.”
Spinrad said he “would characterize Steve Holz as one of the most dedicated, smartest and most savvy people I worked with.”
“This is going to be a big loss for the agency for these two people to be sent packing,” Spinrad said.
