Each one is appointed by the White House Office of Presidential Personnel. In the parlance of people who deal with SES (as I have), they're presidential appointees. But I doubt this guy was SES, probably something else, or maybe he wasn't a legal appointee, but just got his job because he helped Bush.
In any case, it's an administration loyalist trying to tell the scientists how to publish scientific information according to ideological lines. Not good.
Do you have any facts that support this?