NOAA began plans to lay off 10% of its current workforce, on top of the elimination of nearly all new employees last month.
The Trump administration is initiating a new round of job reductions, targeting over 1,000 positions at the nation’s weather, ocean, and fisheries agency, according to four sources familiar with the situation as reported by The Associated Press.
Specifically, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has taken steps to eliminate 10% of its existing workforce, stated individuals within and outside the agency. To protect their identities, some sources voiced their concerns about potential repercussions. The outlined figures were presented internally to NOAA staff members, who were then tasked with identifying positions for elimination. Subsequently, the list will be forwarded to the agency’s parent organization, the Department of Commerce, on Wednesday.
Several former high-ranking NOAA officials, including two political appointees from the Biden administration, provided insight into the impending job cuts. They all concurred on the same number of positions at risk: 1,029, constituting 10% of the agency’s current total of 10,290 employees. Drawing on their connections within NOAA, these sources gained knowledge about the planned reductions, which a current agency staff member detailed based on a manager’s explanation 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.”
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.”
