The US agency that monitors weather will cut another 1,000 jobs, AP
sources say
[March 12, 2025]
By SETH BORENSTEIN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is starting another round of
job cuts — this one more than 1,000 — at the nation's weather, ocean and
fisheries agency, four people familiar with the matter tell The
Associated Press.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday began
plans to lay off 10% of its current workforce, people inside and outside
the agency said, with some of them requesting anonymity due to fear of
retribution. The numbers were presented to NOAA employees and managers
were asked to submit names of positions for layoffs to agency
headquarters, which will then go to NOAA’s parent agency, the Department
of Commerce, on Wednesday, the people said.
Three former senior NOAA officials — two former political appointees
from the Biden administration — who speak regularly with managers at
their old agency used the same number for upcoming job cuts: 1,029, 10%
of the current 10,290. They talked to multiple people still in NOAA and
a current agency worker detailed the cuts that a manager explained to
employees.
While most people know about NOAA and its daily weather forecasts, the
agency also monitors and warns about hurricanes, tornadoes, floods and
tsunamis, manages the country’s fisheries, runs marine sanctuaries,
provides navigation information to ships and observes changes in the
climate and oceans. The agency also plays a role in warning about
avalanches and space weather that could damage the electrical grid. It
helps respond to disasters, including oil spills.
The new cuts come after earlier rounds of Trump administration firings
and encouraged retirements at NOAA, plus the elimination of nearly all
new employees last month. After this upcoming round of cuts, NOAA will
have eliminated about one out of four jobs since President Donald Trump
took office in January.
“This is not government efficiency,” said former NOAA Administrator Rick
Spinrad. “It is the first steps toward eradication. There is no way to
make these kinds of cuts without removing or strongly compromising
mission capabilities.”
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Susie House, front, and David Hill hold up signs as they join
hundreds of others during a large rally and protest outside the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration campus Monday, March
3, 2025, in Boulder, Colo. (Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post via
AP)
The cuts are being ordered without specific guidance from the Trump
administration on how or where, which makes it even worse, Spinrad
said.
NOAA spokeswoman Monica Allen said the agency's policy is not to
discuss internal personnel matters, but said NOAA will “continue to
provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our
public safety mission.”
NOAA has already stopped releasing some weather balloons that gather
crucial observations for forecasts in two locations — Albany, New
York, and Gray, Maine — because of lack of staffing, the agency said
last week.
This is all happening as severe storm system is forecast to move
through the central and southern parts of the nation late this week
in a multi-day outburst with strong tornadoes, hail and damaging
winds expected.
Weather forecasts will worsen and “people are going to start seeing
this very quickly,” warned former NOAA chief scientist Craig McLean.
It will also limit how much commercial fishermen will be able to
catch, he said.
On top of all the job losses, cuts in research grants to
universities will also make it harder for the U.S. to keep improving
its weather forecasts and better monitor what's happening to the
planet, McLean said.
“People are silently watching the United States decline as a
technological leader,” McLean said. “America got to the moon, but
our weather forecasts won't be the greatest.”
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