The Trump administration recently fired roughly 800 probationary employees from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Former NOAA workers warn that these cuts will have global repercussions, affecting nations and industries that rely on NOAA’s freely available data.
NOAA collects and shares data, from the depths of the ocean to outer space and everywhere in between. The agency collaborates with countries worldwide, providing critical data, training, tsunami warnings, extreme weather forecasts and fisheries management support.
Tom Di Liberto was fired from NOAA two weeks before completing his two-year probationary period. His first job with the organization was with the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, where he analyzed climate data to predict where flooding or drought could lead to famine conditions across Africa. He then worked with partners to “get money and aid to places where there’s drought to avoid that drought turning into a famine,” Di Liberto told Mongabay by phone.
This type of work is crucial for saving lives and international stability, said Richard Spinrad, who was the NOAA administrator under former President Biden.
“There are many, many examples of where underdeveloped and undeveloped nations, with just a modicum of improved understanding and capability, can protect their economies, protect their populace, just make life better for their communities,” Spinrad told Mongabay by phone. “Environmental conditions don’t know national borders,” he added.
NOAA’s climate data and scientists play a crucial role in several international organizations, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the World Meteorological Organization. However, travel for remaining NOAA scientists has also been severely restricted, limiting their ability to contribute to critical global discussions.
Spinrad said former colleagues at NOAA have told him they won’t be able to attend the upcoming global Group on Earth Observations meeting dedicated to innovating solutions to global challenges including climate change. Spinrad added it’s the first time the U.S. hasn’t participated in the meeting since it was created.
In addition to climate data, NOAA also has “world-class scientists” working on ocean research and data collection, said Kelly Kryc, the former deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries with NOAA.
Kryc told Mongabay that at international fisheries meetings, NOAA is seen as an impartial science-based organization that freely shares data with countries that wouldn’t otherwise have access to the best information for managing their fisheries.
“Our ability to contribute science to the global equation is just immeasurable, not only for us domestically, but for the international community,” Kryc said in a phone call.
Responding to Mongabay’s emailed request for comment, a NOAA spokesperson wrote in part, “we are not discussing internal personnel and management matters.”
Each source Mongabay spoke with said the staffing cuts were not carried out in a way that best serves the agency or the international community.
“It’s misguided, it’s indiscriminate, it’s lazy,” Spinrad said.
Banner image: Courtesy of personnel of NOAA Ship RAINIER, via Flickr.
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