(Bloomberg) — Hundreds of employees at the top US agency overseeing weather and climate research were fired as the Trump administration moves to shrink the size of the federal government.
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The cuts at the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service and a vast observational system that supplies free data to commercial forecasters, total at least 880, Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking member on the Senate Committee that oversees the agency, said in a statement Thursday.
Hundreds more employees are expected to be let go at NOAA as soon as Friday, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the information is private.
NWS spokesperson Susan Buchanan declined to confirm the exact size and scope of the job cuts, citing “long-standing practice” against discussing personnel or management matters at the agency.
“NOAA remains dedicated to its mission, providing timely information, research and resources that serve the American public and ensure our nation’s environmental and economic resilience,” Buchanan said in an email Thursday. “We continue to provide weather information, forecasts and warnings pursuant to our public safety mission.”
Before the cuts, NOAA employed about 12,000, including more than 6,700 scientists and engineers and a uniformed service that operates NOAA’s fleet of research ships and planes. Rick Spinrad, an oceanographer who led NOAA during the Biden administration, said the agency had been working to fill vacant positions after a wave of retirements in 2024.
Losing workers “will cause a lot of damage and potentially loss of lives, impact on property and economic development,” Spinrad said. “The mission will suffer. The agency was already understaffed, so if you are cutting into it, you are already cutting into bone.”
Conservative critics have been calling for NOAA to be broken up, with its responsibilities and assets distributed among other federal departments. But Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick — who now oversees the agency — testified at his confirmation hearing in January that he believes NOAA should remain intact.
Neil Jacobs, the scientist who has been nominated as NOAA’s next administrator, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Jacobs, who was acting NOAA administrator during President Donald Trump’s first term, was cited for misconduct related to the “Sharpiegate” hurricane forecasting controversy.