Democrats say they’re worried Elon Musk’s incursion into NOAA could end with the world’s richest man wresting control of the National Weather Service.
The lawmakers first raised alarm bells late Tuesday night, saying they had received reports that officials from the Trump administration’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency — which Musk leads — had entered NOAA and gained access to its computer systems.
They warned that DOGE could be planning to shutter NOAA in a similar fashion to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which was all but wiped out earlier this week after DOGE went in.
Democrats also warned that Musk could have a self-dealing interest in shuttering and privatizing NOAA: seizing control of the National Weather Service away from the public and into his own hands.
