A sense of chaos has gripped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), one of the world’s premier research agencies, with key staff hastily fired and then rehired, cuts to vital weather forecasting operations and even a new, unsecured server that led to staff being deluged by obscene spam emails.
Noaa is currently being upended by Donald Trump’s desire to slash the federal government workforce, with more than 1,000 people already fired or resigning from the agency and 1,000 more staffers are expected to be removed as the purge continues. In total, this represents around 20% of the Noaa’s workforce.
Along with leading climate and marine research, Noaa also houses the National Weather Service, which provides bedrock weather forecasts to private providers and the public. There are concerns that the Trump administration’s cuts, spearheaded by Elon Musk’s so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), could imperil public safety by hindering timely warnings of tornadoes and hurricanes.
Doge has already had to reverse some of its initial firings after removing staff including those who help track hurricanes. Five people involved in the “hurricane hunter” flights were fired, only for three of them to be told their jobs will be reinstated. Other staff within the National Weather Service have also been asked to disregard their terminations.
Noaa’s data collection activity is still being affected, though, with the agency reducing the number of weather balloons it releases in six locations across the US. The balloons, fitted with weather instruments, are crucial in providing the information for weather forecasts.
This tumultuous era for Noaa was for some staff crystallized by Doge’s decision to use a new email server to send missives from the federal government’s office of personnel management to the agency. The email server was not secure, meaning that staff got dozens of spam-like emails in January, one of them with a lewd title about the president and another stating: “the next 4 years has an [sic] 99% chance of shit showers.”
While Noaa has since resolved the lack of email server security, staff said that it was emblematic of growing turmoil within the agency.
“The feeling has been ‘you’ve got to be kidding me,’” said one staffer, who was fired but is now on administrative leave pending potential reinstatement.
“These people at Doge think they are the best at what they do but they can’t even protect an email list. They fired people and then had to hire them back, they are cutting contracts without learning what they are. I mean good lord take a minute before doing this. It’s an absolute joke.”
Some former Noaa staff and elected Democrats have held recent protests outside the agency’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, warning that the cuts risk hampering the flow of crucial weather and climate information, as well as regulatory work around fisheries that prevent the over-exploitation of the oceans.
“Dysfunction is the polite way of putting it, you could also say it is incompetent chaos,” said Andrew Rosenberg, formerly the deputy director of Noaa’s national marine fisheries service.
“This administration is paying people on administrative leave and asking staff to name five good things they’ve done but they get email bounce backs when they do because the inboxes are full. If you were looking at the inverse of efficiency, this would be it.”
Rosenberg said remaining Noaa staff are striving to continue their work but the mission of the agency is being degraded.
“A year from now people will notice things are missing that used to be there and Doge and others promoting this will say: ‘See, told you government can’t do things’, rather than: ‘We broke it and it got worse,’” he said.
“Noaa staff right now aren’t happy because they don’t know if they will keep their jobs. Work has been made harder for no reason and they are being told they are worthless. No one has even explained why they are doing all of this crap.”
Noaa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
