Posted on 02/21/2025 11:23:28 AM PST by Red Badger
Mass firings are set to hit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) “imminently,” a source with knowledge told The Hill.
The person, who asked to speak anonymously due to fear of reprisal, said the agency had not yet been subjected to the steep cuts announced elsewhere due to the then-pending confirmation of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
The Commerce Department oversees NOAA and the National Weather Service. Lutnick is set to be sworn in Friday afternoon.
Many of the federal cuts thus far have targeted probationary workers, which includes recent hires but also those who have been recently promoted.
The source told The Hill that an original list of workers set to be fired comprised of new workers, except for veterans and Schedule A employees or noncompetitively appointed disabled workers. However, on Tuesday, the director and deputy director of NOAA were asked to add the excluded workers back on the list, the source added.
Lutnick denied in his confirmation hearing that he would seek to dismantle or privatize NOAA as Commerce secretary. However, Project 2025, the sweeping conservative governance blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation, calls for such a move, and associates of tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) were reportedly present at NOAA facilities earlier this month.
President Trump distanced himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail but has appointed multiple figures associated with it since taking office, including White House budget director Russell Vought and Kathleen Sgamma, his nominee to lead the Bureau of Land Management.
The source told The Hill that deep cuts to NOAA will have tangible effects on Americans’ lives.
“People are relying on us for life-saving information about hurricanes and the weather that’s coming towards them, even geomagnetic storms that take out telecommunication systems,” they said. “Cutting NOAA staff indiscriminately, not selectively based on the roles that they play, just based on the number of years that they’ve had experience in the agency, is going to cripple the agency and have a strong, negative impact potentially,” the source added.
“People are going to lose their lives if the weather service isn’t able to move forward as it has been,” the source added.
The Hill has reached out to NOAA and the Commerce Department for comment.
big time sweat flop trying to tie it to the disregarded Project 2025.
Finally firing the Biden rush to hire DEI dead weight and the Globalist shills at NOAA, absolute win!
Meant the globull warming shills, but close enough.
Will the tiring Global Warming scam finally begin to abate? Or will we be told, yet again, that this is the “warmest winter in the history of the planet?”
Oh Geez
Weather records only go back as far as the Civil War, but every year is the ‘hottest on record’.............
Good more winning
Oh, brother, they say that about EVERY single cut in the federal workforce. They say we simply cannot trim one person without a gazillion losing their lives. So what do they say about North Carolina getting hit with Hurricane Helene and Pacific Palisades getting hit with fires. Many people died even WITH the bloated federal workforce.
I just have to laugh out loud that FINALLY Republicans are using the same dirty tricks that Democrats have used for decades. I'm sure Mayorkas pledged to maintain a secure border in his confirmation hearing and promptly threw that pledge away once confirmed.
Same as above. Even President Trump disavowed Project 2025 when running, got elected, and is proceeding to implement a lot of it.
Weather information gathering and prediction is more automated than ever. NOAA can continue to provide essential services with a much smaller ‘work’ force.
The robot voice on noaa radio uses the word climate now instead of weather. doh!
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving bunch.
Well, if you read some of the posts from a couple of other threads, meteorologists, climatologist, etc are not needed as much any more. Computer modals are essentially all you need, human interpretation and discussion of weather are no longer needed.
Re: 13 - yes, the whole bunch.
Good grief, talk about bursa brush statements.
bursa = broad
The source of the biggest fraud in America.
Will the tiring Global Warming scam finally begin to abate?
Actually I think closing down USAID will go along way of shutting down the scam.
Except for 1976-78. Then we were going into an Ice Age.
I would be delighted to lose NMFS and see fisheries auctioned under leasehold.
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