Chaos as Trump cuts to Noaa lead to staffers receiving deluge of spam emails [View all]
Source: The Guardian
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.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/01/trump-cuts-noaa-spam-emails
Also of note, NOAA has had to reduce the number of weather balloon launches at numerous locations across the country. This will lead to less data being gathered and therefore to less accurate weather forecasts.
It seems that the ultimate goal is to privatize weather forecasting, before too long we'll be paying a subscription fee to receive severe weather and tornado alerts.
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