Federal Government Policy and Business

Lawmakers Want to Know Why a Controversial Immigration Figure Was Appointed to a High-Level NIST Job

NextGov: Two House Science, Space and Technology Committee lawmakers want Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to justify the creation of a new, high-ranking role inside the National Institute of Standards and Technology—and fill them in about the person quietly tapped to fill it.

In a letter to Ross, Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, and Research and Technology Subcommittee Chairwoman Haley Stevens, D-Mich., question why Jason Richwine—who has publicly made a range of controversial claims regarding race and immigration—was “immediately appointed” as deputy undersecretary of Commerce for standards and technology, a new position instituted that they were not alerted about in advance.

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