In a separate email to a colleague, Mr. Gallaudet confided he was close to quitting. “Hang in there, sir,” Mr. Murphy replied and suggested the agency needed strong leadership to counteract the creeping political influence on science. In response to an inquiry by the news media about the president’s altered map, he wrote a one-word email to higher-ups: “HELP!! The emails show top NOAA officials knew full well that the map Mr. Trump presented had been altered, even as days later the agency issued an unsigned statement essentially chastising the Birmingham forecasters for having contradicted the president. Was Alabama never in the cone to that extent?” asked Susan Buchanan, another communications officer.

Source: New York Times February 01, 2020 18:58 UTC