Letter to the Hon. Wilbur Ross, Secretary of the Department of Commerce - Shaheen & Moran to Secretary Ross: Comply With Inspector General and Disclose Report Outlining Political Interference into NOAA's Dorian Forecasts

Letter

Dear Secretary Ross,

As Chairman and Vice Chair of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee (Committee), we write to express our concern regarding the particulars of an Information Memorandum sent to you on July 1, 2020, from the Department of Commerce (DOC) Office of Inspector General (OIG) titled "The Department Is Actively Preventing OIG from Completing an Evaluation." After reviewing the statements included in the OIG's Information Memorandum, we are compelled to remind you that the Committee expects all DOC employees to fully cooperate and assist the OIG in all investigative matters, and that any efforts to subvert or stifle the OIG are in direct defiance of the authorities granted to Inspector Generals by Congress under the Inspector General Act of 1978 (IG Act).

As such, we expect you to ensure that DOC is complying with the IG Act and to immediately rectify the issues outlined by the DOC OIG that are preventing the completion of the Evaluation of NOAA's September 6, 2019, Statement About Hurricane Dorian Forecasts (OIG-20-032-I). We look forward to receiving and reviewing the OIG's report and discussing their findings with you in the near future.

Sincerely,

Source