Trump's team sent a 74-question memo asking for a list of Energy Department staff working on climate change
President-elect Donald Trump's transition team sent a 74-question memo to managers within the Department of Energy (DOE) this week requesting, among other information, a list of all department employees and contractors who attended climate change policy conferences in recent years.
Viewed by Reuters on Friday, the document has reportedly caused alarm within the agency. "This feels like the first draft of an eventual political enemies list," said one Department of Energy employee, speaking on condition of anonymity. "When Donald Trump said he wanted to drain the swamp it apparently was just to make room for witch hunts and it's starting here at the DOE." Other information the memo requested includes emails pertaining to the climate change events and all publications penned by employees at the DOE's 17 national labs over the last three years.
Previous presidential teams have asked policy questions of agencies during their transitions, The New York Times reports, but this level of detail and the demand for specific names may be unprecedented. Still, a "lot of these questions make perfect sense," said Jonathan Levy, a former Obama deputy chief of staff for the DOE. "They have to get their heads around what responsibilities they will have and don't have. The thing that's unsettling are the questions that appear to be targeting personnel for doing public service."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
It is not known whether a similar questionnaire has been sent to other agencies. The full list of 74 questions is available here.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of Christmas
Cartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Inside the house of Assad
The Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
By The Week UK Published
-
Sudoku medium: December 22, 2024
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
Hundreds feared dead in French Mayotte cyclone
Speed Read Cyclone Chido slammed into Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Thirteen missing after Red Sea tourist boat sinks
Speed Read The vessel sank near the Egyptian coastal town of Marsa Alam
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Global plastics summit starts as COP29 ends
Speed Read Negotiators gathering in South Korea seek an end to the world's plastic pollution crisis, though Trump's election may muddle the deal
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden visits Amazon, says climate legacy irreversible
Speed Read Nobody can reverse America's 'clean energy revolution,' said the president, despite the incoming Trump administration's promises to dismantle climate policies
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
At least 95 dead in Spain flash floods
Speed Read Torrential rainfall caused the country's worst flooding since 1996
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Cuba roiled by island-wide blackouts, Hurricane Oscar
Speed Read The country's power grid collapsed for the fourth time in just two days
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Wildlife populations drop a 'catastrophic' 73%
Speed Read The decline occurred between 1970 and 2020
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Floridians flee oncoming Hurricane Milton
Speed Read The hurricane is expected to cause widespread damage in the state
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published