Hundreds of NOAA employees laid off in latest cuts to federal workforce
Hundreds of staffers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, were laid off Thursday as the Trump administration and its newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, continue slashing the federal workforce.
A congressional source told CBS News the layoffs affected 880 NOAA employees. An administration official told CBS News about 5% of the agency's staff was let go, and nobody who was deemed critical to NOAA's responsibilities, such as National Weather Service meteorologists, was affected. A source at the National Weather Service disputed this, however, telling CBS News some meteorologists were included in the cuts.
Laid off staffers who were considered probationary employees received an email Thursday, which read in part, "OPM has advised that '[p]robationary periods are an essential tool for agencies to assess employee performance and manage staffing levels.' (4) In light of that guidance, the Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency's current needs."
Some 400 employees at the National Weather Service were in a probationary period, a NWS source told CBS News, but it's not clear how many of them were included in the layoffs.
Tom DiLiberto, who until Thursday had worked as a Climate and weather scientist and public affairs specialist, told CBS News he started as a contractor for NOAA back in 2010, but became a federal employee less than two years ago. His probationary period was set to end on March 13, 2025, two weeks from the day he was terminated.
"You're seeing the whittling away of scientists, and the people who got fired today are some of the best people you can imagine," DiLiberto said. "These people have dedicated their lives to help others. There's no politics in this. When we forecast, or think of the oceans and keep them clean, we're not thinking about the politics. This is an insult on science and all that's good."
DiLiberto had been a forecaster for El Niño and La Niña and, as a public affairs specialist in the office of communications, said he wrote for the El Niño Southern Oscillation blog for a decade. He published his final blog for the service the same day he was let go. He said he has been given no information on any next steps or if he would be receiving severance.
Congressional Democrats had been worried DOGE and billionaire Elon Musk, who is classified as a "special government employee," had their eyes set on NOAA for deep cuts. Former NOAA officials told CBS News earlier this month that current employees had been told to expect budget cuts of 30% and a 50% reduction in staff.
Prior to Thursday's cuts, NOAA had about 12,000 staffers across the world, including 6,773 who are scientists and engineers, according to the agency's website.
Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington State Democrat who chairs the Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries and Coast Guard, which oversees NOAA, said the job cuts "jeopardize our ability to forecast and respond to extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires, and floods—putting communities in harm's way. They also threaten our maritime commerce and endanger 1.7 million jobs that depend on commercial, recreational and tribal fisheries, including thousands in the State of Washington. This action is a direct hit to our economy, because NOAA's specialized workforce provides products and services that support more than a third of the nation's GDP."
House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman, a Democrat who represents California's 2nd Congressional District, called Thursday's cuts a "betrayal of the American people."
"Musk and his fake officials, the DOGE tech bros, have been rummaging through our most sensitive data without authority in violation of the law for weeks now," Huffman said in a statement. "And this has come with sweeping, indiscriminate layoffs of nonpartisan public servants. Park rangers, firefighters, scientists – all of these people, whose purpose is to serve everyday Americans, have had the rug pulled out from under them. And we will all be worse off for it."
"Musk's sham mission is bringing vital programs to a screeching halt," Huffman continued. "People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information. Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives."
Congressional aides previously told CBS News that lawmakers had received multiple complaints about DOGE staff coming into NOAA offices earlier this month.
Former NOAA officials, who spoke directly with current staffers, also previously confirmed to CBS News they saw members of the DOGE team at NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the Hoover Building, in Washington, D.C., where NOAA's parent agency, the U.S. Commerce Department is located.
The NOAA runs the National Weather Service, which issues vital weather warnings — such as hurricane and tornado warnings — and the National Marine Fisheries Service. It is also responsible for monitoring the health of the oceans and the warming of the climate.
House Science Committee ranking member Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat who represents California's 18th congressional district, said in a statement, "This will cost American lives."
"Protect lives and property; that is NOAA's mission," Lofgren said. "Firing the employees that allow the agency to carry out that mission will bring about dire consequences. People will die and face great hardship thanks to the recklessness of Co-Presidents Trump and Musk."
Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability in the Climate and Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, also criticized the cuts, saying Thursday in a statement, "NOAA's data and science are used routinely by weather forecasters, mariners, farmers, emergency responders, businesses and everyday people across the country. Everyone in the United States relies on NOAA in their daily lives whether they realize it or not, something that will come into focus for many in the weeks and months ahead."
President Trump has nominated Neil Jacobs to lead the agency. Jacobs, who was acting director of the NOAA for a time during Mr. Trump's first term, was reprimanded for ethics violations after Mr. Trump held up a hurricane forecast map with black marker appearing to extend the storm's potential path into Alabama — an incident that became known as "Sharpie-gate."
The Senate has yet to vote on his confirmation.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Massive Saharan dust cloud moving toward US. Will it have any impact on WA?
A large plume of dust from the Saharan Desert is expected to drift across a good chunk of parts of the southeastern U.S. by the end of the week, forecasters say. According to AccuWeather, the Saharan dust will continue to move across the Atlantic and cross the Caribbean and into the U.S. on Thursday, starting with parts of Florida and South Carolina. It will continue to drift across the southeast region of the country on Friday. The plume is about 2,000 miles wide from east to west and 750 miles long from north to south, AccuWeather states. The plume — the apparently largest to reach the U.S. so far this year — is expected to continue on over the Gulf Coast in the following days. But will the dust cloud reach Washington state, or impact the air quality in the Pacific Northwest region? Most of the dust will likely remain thousands of feet high in the atmosphere, meaning it should have minimal impact on air quality at the ground level, even in states it's expected to cross over. That means that Washington state and the Pacific Northwest region shouldn't experience any impact from the storm. Still, if you're in the southeastern region of the U.S., AccuWeather warns that, 'People who are sensitive to dust or vulnerable to the effects of poor air quality should monitor air quality conditions and forecasts.' Air quality forecasts can be found at the National Weather Service website or at Other impacts from the dust cloud could include hazy conditions in some parts of the country, more colorful sunrises and sunsets and a slight cooling effect in some areas. While the current Saharan plume is unusually large, dust from the Sahara Desert blows out toward the U.S. often. According to NASA, winds pick up an estimated 100 million tons of dust from the Sahara Desert every year — a sizable amount blows out over the North Atlantic Ocean. Dust plays a major role in Earth's climate and biological systems. The airborne particles absorb and reflect sunlight, which impacts the amount of solar energy that reaches the surface. The particles also can promote or reduce cloud and storm formation. The dust, which is rich in iron and other minerals, can act as a natural fertilizer for ocean ecosystems and lands downwind. The Sahara Desert is Earth's largest source of airborne dust. In winter and spring storms, Saharan dust often fertilizes the soils of the Amazon rainforest.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Mapped: Canada's wildfires are impacting air quality in these US communities
Smoke from wildfires still raging in Canada is degrading air quality across the northern U.S., turning skies a murky orange hue and forcing sensitive groups indoors. In New York, the smoke could be seen in the upper atmosphere from satellites, and an air quality alert was in effect until 11 p.m. Thursday evening. Poor air quality was also in store for Chicagoans, who were told to reduce time spent outdoors. Government maps showed the worst levels of particle pollution around the Windy City and Detroit, with the latter under an advisory through noon on Friday. In Chicago, one area saw an Air Quality Index at a level of 157, which is deemed 'unhealthy.' The particle pollution can affect the eyes, throat, lungs, and heart. Sometimes, it can even lead to premature death. 'It's probably a good idea to limit time outside,' Kevin Doom, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said, according to The Chicago Sun-Times. 'Doing a lot of heavy breathing is probably not ideal on a day like today.' Forecasters said there's a chance an alert there would be extended into Friday, as temperatures across much of the eastern U.S. continue to spike ahead of a rainy weekend. Some of the haze also has to do with ozone pollution, which is linked to that heat. 'On hot and sunny days, especially in urban areas, heat and sunlight react chemically with pollutants in the air to form ground-level ozone, which can be very irritating to people with respiratory problems,' WNBC's Lauren Maroney warned. In the U.S., wildfires have burned in Minnesota, Florida, and the West. There have been more than 1.1 million acres torched to date across the country, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. There are more than 200 active wildfires raging in Canada, and more than 6.4 million acres have burned since the start of the year. Two new blazes were reported on Thursday, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. The deadly fires have resulted in the deaths of two people and forced tens of thousands of people to flee. Officials in Mantiboa and Saskatchewan have declared a state of emergency. Manitoba skies have turned a ruby red color. "I've never seen anything like it," Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe said, according to CBC News. Climate change is helping to stoke the flames of wildfires around the world each year, bringing even hotter and drier conditions. As smoke continues to impact millions in the northern U.S., it is heading South. AccuWeather said it might collide with a 2,000-mile-wide plume of Saharan dust later this week. 'This appears to be the largest Saharan dust plume to reach America so far this year,' Lead Hurricane Expert Alex Dasilva said in a statement.
Scientific American
3 hours ago
- Scientific American
New Hires Will Still Leave the NWS Dangerously Understaffed, Meteorologists Say
CLIMATEWIRE | New hiring efforts at the National Weather Service won't be enough to overcome staffing shortages and potential risks to human lives this summer, meteorologists warned Wednesday at a panel hosted by Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell. NOAA will hire around 125 new employees at the NWS, the agency said in an announcement first reported Monday by CNN. But nearly 600 employees have departed the NWS over the last few months, after the Trump administration fired probationary federal employees and offered buyouts and early retirements. That means the new hires will account for less than 25 percent of the total losses. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. 'A quarter of the staff are not going to do the job when, let's just say, both hurricane and fire risks are increasing,' Cantwell said during Wednesday's panel. '[The Trump administration's] approach in response to this has been a flimsy Band-Aid over a very massive cut.' Cantwell added that the National Hurricane Center is not fully staffed, as NOAA officials suggested last month when announcing their predictions for the upcoming Atlantic hurricane season outlook. The NHC has at least five vacancies, she said, representing meteorologists and technicians who help build forecasts for tropical cyclones in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Meanwhile, NOAA is predicting above-average activity in the Atlantic this hurricane season. Updated fire maps also suggest that nearly all of Cantwell's home state of Washington, along with Oregon and large swaths of California, will experience an above-average risk of wildfires by August. Kim Doster, NOAA's director of communications, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on NOAA's staffing shortages or the NHC's vacancies. Three meteorologists speaking on the panel echoed Cantwell's concerns, suggesting that staffing shortages at weather offices across the country risk forecasting errors and breakdowns in communication between meteorologists and emergency managers. At least eight local weather offices across the country are currently so short-staffed that they can no longer cover their overnight shifts, said Brian LaMarre, a former meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS office in Tampa Bay, Florida. Some of these offices may have to rely on 'mutual aid,' or borrowed staff, from other NWS locations to cover their shifts during extreme weather events. But Cantwell and other panelists expressed concern that staff-sharing across the NWS could erode the accuracy of forecasts and warnings for local communities. Cantwell pointed to the meteorologists that specialize in fire weather forecasts. NOAA typically deploys those experts to provide forecasts and recommendations to firefighters on the ground when wildfires strike. 'If you think you're gonna substitute somebody that's gonna be somewhere else — I don't know where, some other part of the state or some other state — and you think you're gonna give them accurate weather information? It just doesn't work that way,' she said. Washington state-based broadcast meteorologist Jeff Renner echoed her concerns. 'The meteorologists that respond to [wildfires] have very specific training and very specific experience that can't be easily duplicated, particularly from those outside the area,' he said. Meanwhile, LaMarre's former position in Tampa is vacant, and around 30 other offices across the country are also operating without a permanent meteorologist-in-charge. 'That person is the main point of contact when it comes to briefing elected officials, emergency management directors, state governors, city mayors, parish officials,' LaMarre said. 'They are the individual that's gonna be implementing any new change that is needed for hurricane season, blizzards, wildfires, inland flooding.' The NWS suffered from staffing shortages prior to the Trump administration. But LaMarre said he never saw such widespread vacancies, including offices unable to operate overnight, in his 30 years at the agency. He emphasized that NWS meteorologists will do whatever it takes to ensure accurate forecasts when extreme weather strikes. But too many gaps at local offices mean that some services will inevitably suffer, LaMarre added. 'Whenever you look at an office that is short-staffed, that means a piece of that larger puzzle is taken away,' he said. 'That means some outreach might not be able to occur. Some trainings might not be able to occur. Some briefings to officials might not be able to occur.'
