In June 2017, Zinke called for the elimination of 4,000 jobs from the Interior Department and supported the White House proposal to cut the department's budget by 13.4%.[98] The same month, Zinke ordered 50 Interior members of the Senior Executive Service to be reassigned, "forcing many into jobs for which they had little experience and that were in different locations."[99] The scope of the move was unusual.[100][101] One reassigned Interior senior executive, scientist Joel Clement, published an op-ed in the Washington Post saying that the reassignment was retaliation against him "for speaking out publicly about the dangers that climate change poses to Alaska Native communities."[100][102][103] The moves prompted the Interior Departments's Office of Inspector General to launch a probe.[100]