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 percent 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 percent 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.”
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 a 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.”
Story by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer. The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
