Fired NOAA workers say cuts could hinder weather forecasts and programs to keep people safe
The Trump administration cut about 600 workers at the National Weather Service and NOAA. That could hinder work on programs designed for public safety, former employees said.
A scientist with a doctorate who issues tsunami alerts. A hurricane-hunting flight director. A researcher studying which communities will get flooded when a storm strikes.
They were among the more than 600 workers the Trump administration cut last week when it eliminated about 5% of the workforce at the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“I was considered an essential employee, part of a 24/7 safety watch,” said Kayla Besong, a physical scientist at the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, which sends tsunami alerts. Until Thursday, she was part of a team of 12 who programmed the systems that determine whether parts of the U.S. coastline are at risk and issued alerts accordingly. Two people were required to be working at all times, she said.
The mass firing — of educated, specialized workers who viewed themselves as the next generation of scientists protecting life and property — could stretch NOAA’s workforce thin and hinder work on programs designed for public safety, former agency employees and leaders said.
Climate change is making weather disasters more common. Last year, NOAA counted 27 billion-dollar disasters, which resulted in the deaths of 568 people in the United States. It was the second-highest number since 1980, when NOAA began keeping such records, even accounting for inflation.
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