WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Environmental Protection Agency placed 144 employees on administrative leave after they signed a letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin criticizing his leadership of the agency. More than 150 staff members had signed the letter last summer, which outlined concerns about Zeldin's partisan communications and said they were undermining trust in the EPA.

The letter also criticized Zeldin's reduction of the EPA's research division and his tendency to ignore its scientists' findings. The signatories noted that the letter reflected their personal opinions and had been written on their own time. A lawyer in the EPA's Office of General Counsel told colleagues that the letter raised no ethical concerns because the signatories were exercising their First Amendment right to express their opinions, and another lawyer in the office warned against any retaliatory action because government employee speech is protected.

"We have a ZERO tolerance policy for agency bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging, and undercutting the agenda of this administration," Zeldin said. "The will of the American public will not be ignored."

Since taking office, Zeldin has appointed former industry lobbyists to several upper-level positions at the agency, removed entire databases of information from the EPA's website, and dissolved several departments. The EPA rescinded regulations aimed at reducing Americans' exposure to arsenic, mercury, and PM2.5, abandoned its efforts to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, intervened to prevent states from taking action to limit greenhouse-gas emissions, and issued official statements in support of coal.

"Zeldin has displayed acrobatic flexibility in bending environmental laws to suit the desires of the White House," said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. "He does not only backflips but triple loops."

Former EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman also criticized his tenure. "He'll do exactly what Trump wants him to do. That's what he's done at the E.P.A., irrespective of the damage it's done," Whitman said.

Zeldin, 46, completed his undergraduate degree at SUNY Albany in three years and his law degree in two years before enlisting in the U.S. Army. As a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps, he briefly deployed to Iraq. In 2010, he won a seat in the New York State Senate with Tea Party support, and in 2014 he was elected to Congress, representing a district that stretched from Smithtown to Montauk. As a member of Congress, he voted in favor of repealing the Affordable Care Act and against limiting the sale of assault weapons. In 2015, he received a 14 percent rating from the League of Conservation Voters, and in 2016 he received an 8 percent rating.