Hurricane Dorian–Alabama controversy
[17] On September 4, 2019, in the Oval Office, Trump displayed the National Hurricane Center's August 29 diagram of Dorian's projected track.
The diagram had an oddly misshapen line, apparently drawn with a black marker, which added an additional lobe to the cone of uncertainty of the hurricane's possible path which included southern Alabama.
[3][20] While Trump had previously been known to use a Sharpie to write on documents during his presidency and while on the campaign trail,[21][22] he stated he was unsure who made the alteration on the map.
[24] Following a Freedom of Information Act request by BuzzFeed News, the White House released more than 1,000 internal NOAA emails on January 31, 2020.
In an internal NOAA email, staffer Corey Pieper confirmed to NWS Director of Public Affairs Susan Buchanan on September 4 that the map "was doctored", after the latter received an inquiry from NBC.
Dr. Neil Jacobs, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Environmental Observation and Prediction, wrote in an email to another NOAA scientist, "you have no idea how hard I'm fighting to keep politics out of science."
"[5] The statement also said the tweet from the Birmingham NWS office was incorrect because it "spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time."
[27][28] The Commerce Department's Inspector General Peggy E. Gustafson said the next day that she was investigating the statement and directed NOAA employees to preserve all communications related to it.
"[29][30] On September 9, The New York Times reported that Wilbur Ross, the Commerce Secretary of the United States, had called the acting administrator of NOAA, Neil Jacobs, and ordered him to undo the department's apparent contradiction of Trump.
[31] The Commerce Department later issued a partial denial, saying "Secretary Ross did not threaten to fire any NOAA staff over forecasting and public statements about Hurricane Dorian.
[31] "The content of this press release is very concerning as it compromises the ability of NOAA to convey life-saving information necessary to avoid substantial and specific danger to public health and safety," he said.
"[30] On September 11, it was reported that Ross had been told by Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to arrange for NOAA to support Trump's version of events and disavow the Birmingham message.
The second of three investigations, the inspector general's examination of the NOAA decision to back Trump's Alabama assertions was the only one that was granted interviews with senior Commerce Department officials and secured access to White House communications.
Gustafson also commented that the scandal could have broader repercussions in 2020 because hurricane-prone states, such as Texas and Florida, are also being heavily affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The findings were structured as a general review of the government's current scientific policies as well as their ability to prevent political interference in the future.
The report summarized the two previous investigations by NAPA and the Commerce Department into the September 6, 2019, NOAA statement, and discussed ways to prevent the same kind of political interference from occurring again.
"[38] Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, published a blog post on the incident, noting that Neil Jacobs was being inappropriately attacked for simply trying to defend his agency.
