Hurricane center chief reassigned

Associated Press and Yahoo News ^ | 9 July 2007 20 minutes ago

[bd476]

Hurricane center chief reassigned

Bill Proenza, director of the National Hurricane Center, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press Friday, July 6, 2007 at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Proenza was temporarily reassigned Monday, July 9, 2007 amid calls from about half his staff that he be ousted for undermining the public's confidence in the center's forecasts. Director Bill Proenza will be replaced by Deputy Director Ed Rappaport, said center spokesman Dennis Feltgen. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

MIAMI - The director of the National Hurricane Center was temporarily reassigned Monday, four days after many of the center's employees called for his removal because of his comments about an aging weather satellite. A

More than 20 of Bill Proenza's nearly 50 staff members signed a statement last week urging federal officials to dismiss him. They said Proenza undermined the public's confidence in the center by exaggerating the forecasting problems scientists would face if the satellite failed.

Proenza insisted he was only trying to ensure that his forecasters had the best tools and adequate support.

He was to be replaced by Deputy Director Ed Rappaport, center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

Rappaport declined to comment on his appointment.

Anson Franklin, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees the center, said Proenza is still a NOAA employee, but he would not provide details about his status, citing privacy laws.

Proenza assumed the job in January, replacing longtime director Max Mayfield

[Arm_Bears]

Where does this guy stand on “man-made” global warming?

That would explain a lot.

[Unicorn]

Somebody got paid.

[bd476]

The story continues...

Reference: Hurricane Center Chief: I Won't Leave

[bd476]

Arm_Bears wrote: "Where does this guy stand on “man-made” global warming? That would explain a lot."

That's a good point.

[bd476]

Unicorn wrote: "Somebody got paid."

That's possible.

[lexington minuteman 1775]

Our lives are at stake here in Florida and NOAA’s Hurricane Center plays politics. I sure find this less than helpful.

[bd476]

lexington minuteman 1775 wrote: Our lives are at stake here in Florida and NOAA’s Hurricane Center plays politics. I sure find this less than helpful."

It certainly is less than helpful.

[Dick Vomer]

well there's the difference between Bush and Reagan.

I'm sure there are just a sh#t load of government cushy jobs for meteorolgy majors coming out of college.

This guy didn't want money spent on a multi million dollar party for the department...made some comment about the aging weather satellite and the worker monkees had a fit.

[bd476]

Dick Vomer wrote: "well there's the difference between Bush and Reagan. I'm sure there are just a sh#t load of government cushy jobs for meteorology majors coming out of college. This guy didn't want money spent on a multi million dollar party for the department...made some comment about the aging weather satellite and the worker monkees had a fit."

I think that sums it up pretty well. Taxpayers in hurricane territory will still have to pay for this kind of nonsense.

[capt. norm]

Mutiny!

[bd476]

Good photo, Capt. Norm! And mutiny sure is what it sounds like.

[Strategerist]

That would explain a lot.

ABSOLUTELY nothing about this controversy has anything remotely to do with global warming.

[Strategerist]

I'm sure there are just a sh#t load of government cushy jobs for meteorolgy majors coming out of college.

Meteorology is one of those professions where there are more meteorologists graduated than there are jobs for them. There really aren't that many met jobs. You'll see a lot of guys with meteorology degrees working outside their fields completely.

National Weather service jobs are the most prestigious, difficult to get, and pay more than jobs in private meteorology (a place like AccuWeather pays very low wages to guys just out of college because, again, of the oversupply of met majors) but they're not making huge amounts of money.

I've noticed on FR people have this odd idea that scientists in government and academia are making these outrageously huge salaries - certainly compared to their education costs and time and work in school, they are not. They're making far less than the average lawyer, or your local orthodontist.

[Between the Lines]

This guy didn't want money spent on a multi million dollar party for the department...made some comment about the aging weather satellite and the worker monkees had a fit.

From what I understand this guy wants a new weather satellite, but the workers expect budget cuts and job cuts because of the expense. So they want him out and want to keep the old satellite that has passed it's life expectancy. They value job security over the publics security.

[Strategerist]

The satellite in question, QUIKSCAT, is fairly cool, but completely irrelevant to actual hurricanes about to hit the US - it’s useful for telling if some cloud mass off Africa is a TD or something, but, for example, 3 days from Katrina hitting Louisiana, there was no useful information provided by QUIKSCAT that made any difference to anything.

All it does is give an estimation of wind speeds over water by bouncing radar off the waves to estimate their height - however, it doesn’t work in areas where it is raining - thus, you can’t use it to measure the wind speeds of a hurricane, and to locate hurricanes it’s far easier to use a geostationary camera satellite like GOES.

Proenza (who has never been an operational hurricane forecaster) was strangely obsessively harping about the importance of this satellite, and confusing the media and public.

[Godebert]

The director of the National Hurricane Center was temporarily reassigned Monday....

Reassigned? Who reassigned him? Who is his boss?

[Strategerist]

The National Hurricane Center is under the National Weather Service which is under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

[Old Professer]

“One toke over the line, sweet Jesus, one toke over the line
Sittin’ downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line
Waitin’ for the train that goes home, sweet Mary
Hoping that the train is on time
Sittin’ downtown in a railway station, one toke over the line”

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

Well now,,,Dat Didn't Take Long !!...;0)

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Reassigned? Who reassigned him? Who is his boss?

The National Weather Service chief, or someone in the chain farther up in NOAA, or the Dep’t of Commerce.

[Cyber Liberty]

OK. I read the whole thing and I think this is stupid as Hell. What’s really going on? Did he have a disagreement with Heidi Cullen, the all-being in charge of all things weather?

[Hot Tabasco]

More than 20 of Bill Proenza's nearly 50 staff members signed a statement

You don't manage by consensus. There should now be more than 20 employment openings at the National Hurricane Center.........

[Hot Tabasco]

Our lives are at stake here in Florida and NOAA’s Hurricane Center plays politics.

Then either move or watch your own weather patterns via the internet and make your decisions from that.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't last summer supposed to be a really high season for hurricanes?

I also seem to recall this past May a lot of unnecessary concern about a storm approaching the East coast with the media saying "this is only the 17th Named storm in recorded history to strike the coast so early in the year". SUB-TROPICAL STORM ANDREA then was downgraded to not even tropical status and veered off into the Atlantic.

So much for the accuracy of your life saving weather wonks..........

Here's what we do here in Michigan: When the TV issues a severe storm warning for xyz areas, we either look out our westward window or step outside and look to the west. If it looks pretty dark then we act accordingly......Which usually means we put the car in the garage since we probably just washed it that morning........ :)

[bd476]

Reuters seems to be saying that are some unnamed higher up powers involved in this:

Embattled U.S. hurricane center boss ousted

A search on many news sites leads to a general consensus that Proenza was simply an outsider and that there appeared to be some personality conflicts.

Search

---

Twin Cities.com

Staff revolt shakes hurricane center

By JOHN PAIN Associated Press Writer
News Fuze

Article Last Updated:07/06/2007 11:25:22 PM CDT

MIAMI—When there is tension at the National Hurricane Center, it's usually because a powerful storm is bearing down on Miami, New Orleans or another U.S. city. But the turmoil these days is focused on demands from many staffers that the center's new director be ousted.

Bill Proenza said in an interview Friday that he has no intention of resigning but will step down if his bosses feel it is best for the center and the public. About half the center's employees say Proenza has undermined the public's confidence in them by exaggerating the forecasting problems they would face if an aging weather satellite failed.

The director and his employees were able to agree on one thing—the center is still capable of protecting coastal residents from hurricanes as the Atlantic season begins its traditionally busiest months.

"With or without the satellite, you are safe," senior hurricane specialist Lixion Avila said. "The center is going to work with Proenza, without Proenza."

But the tension was palpable as reporters camped outside the concrete bunker-like building. Proenza gave an interview no more than 20 feet from his forecasters, who quietly went on with their work behind a glass wall with shades drawn. The room where reporters usually transmit updates on approaching storms was instead the scene of an internal dispute gone public.

Twenty-three staffers released a statement late Thursday urging the Commerce Department, which oversees the center, to appoint a new leader.

"Nobody's happy about doing what we did," senior hurricane specialist James Franklin said. "We tried so hard not to go this route. There are costs involved, but the costs of not speaking up for the nation's hurricane program were higher in the long run."

Proenza blamed many of the problems on a Commerce Department team sent this week to review the center's management and organizational structure, and its ability to provide accurate, timely information.

He said some staffers felt pressure by the team's presence and joined the call for his ouster because they did not want to be seen aligned with him.

Proenza acknowledged some disagreements with the staff about "what we want for new capability, new science and technology." But, he asked, "Does that justify removing someone?"

Proenza, 62, said if his superiors asked him to resign, he would respect that decision. Proenza assumed the job in January after a 40-year government weather service career, taking over from longtime Director Max Mayfield, who was widely praised by his former colleagues.

Proenza said his boss, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration head Conrad Lautenbacher, had given him "no guarantees" about his future, but insisted the damage was repairable.

"We continue to have confidence in the abilities and professionalism of our forecasters. They will do the job they need to do," NOAA spokesman Anson Franklin said.

Proenza has publicly criticized the government for failing to provide enough funding, particularly to replace an aging weather satellite and increase research. He also said NOAA had spent money on an anniversary celebration while cutting research money.

He said he was only trying to ensure that his forecasters had the best tools and proper support.

James Franklin, the forecaster, said Proenza had exaggerated the risk if a key satellite called QuikScat failed. It is now past its expected life span, and Proenza has argued that tracking forecasts could be up to 16 percent less accurate without it.

"He has been very loudly saying if it failed, our forecasts for landfalling storms would be degraded, that warning areas would need to be expanded," Franklin said. "None of that is the case, and he knows that we feel that way. The science is not there to back up the claims that he's making."

Avila and Franklin say they depend on QuikScat more for intensity information than to determine a storm's path. Avila said the satellite was like a BMW with leather seats: nice but not essential. When asked if he thought Proenza misspoke intentionally, he said: "Don't attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity."

Franklin worried that Proenza's statements would result in inferior technology hastily being substituted for QuikScat, possibly funded with money pulled from reconnaissance flights sent to investigate Atlantic storms.

The International Association of Emergency Managers supports Proenza, but was "quite concerned that his employees have turned on him," said Larry Gispert, the group's first vice president. The association is a nonprofit organization of nearly 3,000 emergency management professionals from local, state and federal governments, as well as the military, private industry and volunteer organizations.

Gispert urged NOAA to resolve the situation quickly. "This stuff could have gone on either preseason or after the season," Gispert said.

Proenza said whether he stays or goes, the hurricane center will still function well.

"Everybody has gone into a frenzy of concern and I can understand why. But it's interesting to note that despite that frenzy of concern, that everybody is still working well together," Proenza said.

———
Associated Press writer Jennifer Kay contributed to this report.

Staff revolt shakes hurricane center

[bd476]

Updated Info Ping Click Here

[1COUNTER-MORTER-68]

“Don’t attribute to malice what you can attribute to stupidity.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think this says it all...

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Reuters seems to be saying that are some unnamed higher up powers involved in this

The food chain would be the a head of the National Weather Service, who answers to someone in NOAA, who’s head answers to someone in the Dep’t of Commerce, who answers to the Commerce Secretary - a cabinet level office, who, of course answers to the POTUS. An order could have come to the NWS boss from anywhere up the food chain, directed through channels.

[Recovering_Democrat]

Sorry, HT. I have to disagree with you on this one. I've been in Florida for 10+ years. This guy is not on the same page as anyone. He came in and pissed off the people ABOVE his pay grade and the people BELOW his pay grade.

He wasn't a good fit for anyone.

The previous director, Max Mayfield, had been around long enough to know what was acceptable behavior for a NHC director and how to lead--this guy just didn't fit in.

Oh, Senator Bill Nelson ('rat) and Senator Mary Landrieu ('rat) supported the guy...but that was about as far as his support went. They loved him because as soon as he got installed he began bashing his Washington superiors in a very public way.

And the media down here didn't really investigate his claims, they just repeated them ad nauseum.

In this case, the Bush Commerce Department--under which NOAA and the NHC operates--did it right. They booted him.

[Cedar]

Thanks for that info. Nice to have someone explain it who knows what they’re talking about.

At the beginning of the thread I was upset. Your post cleared things up quickly.

[Hot Tabasco]

Sorry, HT. I have to disagree with you on this one. I've been in Florida for 10+ years

You're probably right but people are putting too much faith in these weather organizations to the point that they are being hoisted up on Mt. Olympus. Like I mentioned, last year they were quoted as saying that it was going to be an abnormally high hurricane season but that didn't pan out. then the May storm which didn't pan out.

I think what we are seeing here is another inadvertant career assination due entirely by an over zealous MSM trying to make news out of no news.

Ten years ago, maybe even 5, what this guy said wouldn't even had made the back page page of any newspaper and he would still be working........

As a side note, two Wednesdays ago I was to start a skeet league at 6:15 p.m. but the guy in charge called me to cancel because the local weather stations were issuing a severe storm warning for our area. Warning meaning imminent storm coming. Storm never materialized, no rain and no skeet shooting........

A few years ago The Weather Channel came up here to Troy Michigan to cover the snow storm of the century (my title). They successfully got Detroit Metro airport closed down and I passed their weather van parked in a restaurant parking lot at Metro-Parkway and I-75 while I was driving to work at 7:00 a.m. that morning and not one drop of snow............

[muawiyah]

For federal employees there are really no privacy concerns at all except if you are getting fired for cause and no prosecution is involved.

So, that's lie #1 out of the big boys at NASA.

This one isn't over.

What I'd like to know is why the hurricane guys don't want a new satellite ~ is this device in any way involved in determining the estimation of strength of hurricanes that never make landfall?

If it is, then the absence of the satellite would allow the GW fanatics to BS any sort of story they wanted about "ever greater number of stronger hurricanes".

Best the situation be investigated further and the staff people be held accountable for the advice they give higher levels of management.

[muawiyah]

Not really. In the government you can only be fired for cause (provided you are not an appointee).

One of the reasons you hire trained professionals is so you can access their judgment ~ sometimes that might involve how bad their boss is.

Not that anything is proven yet, but applying a narrow ideological attitude related to techniques of discipline to an organization that has to figure out how we are going to die (in the surf or in the wind) would end up getting you a whole department of total idiots (rather than just a few).

[dufekin]

QuickSCAT isn’t particularly useful for estimating hurricane intensity; however, it works extremely well for assessing whether a disturbance merits classification as a tropical storm and assessing the strength of a tropical storm over water. Hurricanes are generally stronger, wetter, more compact, and more well-organized than the disturbances that QuickSCAT measures well. The imagery it gives nevertheless provides critical data that scientists use to determine whether a given tropical storm will intensify. It also provides a complete picture of the field of tropical-storm-force winds necessary for targeting tropical-storm warnings.

Bill Porenza is right about this satellite, but perhaps he handled his concerns inappropriately. Who knows? NOAA and the Weather Service are now wrapped in a notoriously high-profile bureaucratic turf war. And I don’t know personally anyone talking in Miami, so I can’t tell who (if anyone) is right or wrong.

[Dick Vomer]

I've noticed on FR people have this odd idea that scientists in government and academia are making these outrageously huge salaries - certainly compared to their education costs and time and work in school, they are not. They're making far less than the average lawyer, or your local orthodontist.

My point was sarcastic. There aren't a lot of weather jobs that pay.

Why? Cause it's not that hard to do and a lot of people can do what they can do.

The government jobs are EASY, because they pay off at the end with benefits. Just like most academia. You're paid in security/tenure and good benefits. Not in what you produce.

As far as lawyers and orthodontics... orthodontia makes a ton of money, lawyers are a dime a dozen and it's hard to make a lot of money...but when you do, you've hit the lottery.

[Getsmart64]

I've noticed on FR people have this odd idea that scientists in government...are making these outrageously huge salaries

You don't get rich being a civil servant....just get your bills paid on time...that's about it....

[Getsmart64]

The government jobs are EASY, because they pay off at the end with benefits. Just like most academia. You're paid in security/tenure and good benefits. Not in what you produce.

Obviously you don't understand what it means to be a "civil servant"....

[Dick Vomer]

Obviously you don't understand what it means to be a "civil servant"....

civ·il /ˈsɪvəl/

–adjective 1. of, pertaining to, or consisting of citizens: civil life; civil society.

2. of the commonwealth or state: civil affairs.

3. of citizens in their ordinary capacity, or of the ordinary life and affairs of citizens, as distinguished from military and ecclesiastical life and affairs.

4. of the citizen as an individual: civil liberty.

5. befitting a citizen: a civil duty.

6. of, or in a condition of, social order or organized government; civilized: civil peoples.

7. adhering to the norms of polite social intercourse; not deficient in common courtesy: After their disagreement, their relations were civil though not cordial.

8. marked by benevolence: He was a very civil sort, and we liked him immediately.

9. (of divisions of time) legally recognized in the ordinary affairs of life: the civil year.

10. of or pertaining to civil law.

.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Origin: 1350–1400; ME < L cīvīlis, equiv. to cīv(is) citizen + -īlis -il] civil servant n. A person employed in the civil service.

yeah, I understand what a "civil servant" is. Been one, I think.

I also know that most of the academics didn't go into it for the "love of knowledge". They do it cause it was easy or they couldn't think of anything else to do and ended up there cause they couldn't hack it in the private sector.

Producing something for pay versus getting paid from taxpayers to perform a function of government. I think that covers it.

[dixiechick2000]

Thanks for the update!

[Czar]

The asylum has been turned over to the inmates.

Typical bureaucratic syndrome....