The headquarters of the Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Know-how in Gaithersburg, Maryland
Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Know-how
The new second-in-command on the U.S. Nationwide Institute of Requirements and Know-how (NIST) is unfit for the job, say high Democrats on an influential congressional science panel.
In a scalding letter yesterday to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, whose division oversees NIST, Representatives Eddie Bernice Johnson (D–TX) and Haley Stevens (D–MI) assert that Jason Richwine holds “beliefs and actions [that] are plainly disqualifying from federal service.” The lawmakers, who chair the science committee of the U.S. Home of Representatives and its analysis subcommittee, respectively, additionally argue that Richwine’s “academic {and professional} background are plainly insufficient for finishing up the duties of senior management at NIST.” They ask Ross to reply a collection of questions concerning the newly created place, together with who licensed it, inside 2 weeks.
Richwine, an impartial public coverage scholar, started his new job as deputy undersecretary of commerce for requirements and expertise (DUS) on 9 November. The science committee’s opposition to the appointment is predicated on what it describes as his “anachronistic IQ-based rating of races as a way to help his anti-immigration beliefs, leaning on debunked pseudoscience that has been used for hundreds of years to justify colonialism, slavery, and segregation.”
Richwine is a political appointee, and his hiring was presumably orchestrated by White Home officers serving out the waning days of the Trump administration. As such, Richwine seems unlikely to outlive as soon as President-elect Joe Biden takes workplace on 20 January 2021.
Nonetheless, on Monday Ross signed an administrative order that elevated nervousness amongst scientists. It designates the DUS because the successor to the NIST director, Walter Copan, ought to Copan be fired or depart. Beneath the earlier coverage, the affiliate director for laboratory operations—a profession federal worker, not a political appointee—was subsequent in line. That place is held by James Olthoff, a Ph.D. physicist who joined NIST in 1987.
In a digital city corridor yesterday, Copan instructed NIST workers that Richwine can be overseeing an unspecified set of “particular tasks” and that he can be in line to succeed him. Copan additionally revealed that Brian Lenihan has been named particular adviser to the director. A former lobbyist for the constructing trades and an aide to congressional Republicans, Lenihan has spent the previous 12 months overseeing manufacturing initiatives inside the Division of Commerce’s workplace of worldwide commerce.
The arrival of Richwine and Lenihan doubles the earlier variety of political appointees at NIST. The science committee’s letter pointedly asks Ross to justify that elevated political oversight of an company that revels in its repute as a nonpartisan analysis operation with a primary campus in suburban Maryland and a world-class analysis facility in Boulder, Colorado.
“Who made the choice to create the brand new Deputy Undersecretary place?” the letter asks. “Did the Division conduct any evaluation to help the requirement for a brand new Deputy Undersecretary place previous to establishing it?” The lawmakers additionally need to know what standards commerce officers used to find out Richwine’s “suitability for the place.”
The committee has requested for solutions inside the subsequent 2 weeks. The Commerce Division has not responded to repeated queries from ScienceInsider.
