"This is sending a signal that maybe reform and cleaning up the agency is off to a bit of an uncertain start," he said. "I would think they'd be trying to send a signal that 'We've got a new lease on life, we're cleaning things up, hiring people based on merits, not going to fall back into the patterns we had in the past,' and if that's the case, this doesn't sound to me like the best judgment in the world."