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Following the second inauguration of
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
as
President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...
, and the creation of the
Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...
(DOGE) on January 20, 2025, several major changes occurred at the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...
(NOAA), including hundreds of employees being terminated, dozens of federal contracts and leases being terminated, and the enactment of executive orders which affected the operations of NOAA. The operations of the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS) were affected, with several offices stopping
weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as a sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments to the stratosphere to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind spe ...
launches, and NOAA databases and websites went offline. The National Weather Service was also the target of domestic terrorism threats for
conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that asserts the existence of a conspiracy (generally by powerful sinister groups, often political in motivation), when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * ...
regarding weaponizing the weather.


Federal employee buyouts, resignations, and terminations

On February 27, 2025, the
Office of Personnel Management The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is an independent agency of the United States government that manages the United States federal civil service. The agency provides federal human resources policy, oversight, and support, a ...
(OPM) abruptly terminated around 880 employees, over 7.3% of the total staff from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Before the terminations, NOAA had approximately 12,000 employees that included 6,773 scientists and engineers. Shortly after the firings,
William Alsup William Haskell Alsup (born June 27, 1945) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as senior United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed to the Northern District of California ...
, Senior Judge of the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...
, ruled that the OPM "had no authority to order the firings of probationary employees". Rick Spinrad, the former NOAA Administrator who was picked by former president
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
, stated firings occurred at the
National Hurricane Center The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is the division of the United States' NOAA/National Weather Service responsible for tracking and predicting tropical weather systems between the IERS Reference Meridian, Prime Meridian and the 140th meridian ...
and
Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...
. Spinrad stated 25% of the NOAA
Environmental Modeling Center The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) is a United States Government agency, which improves numerical weather, marine and climate predictions at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), through a broad program of research in d ...
was terminated. Congressman
Jared Huffman Jared William Huffman (born February 18, 1964) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for California's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Part ...
responded to the firings by saying the entire American public "depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information". Daniel Swain, a scientist at the
University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...
, in response to the firings said, "Most or all private weather companies in US (including forecasts that you see on TV or your favorite app) are built directly atop backbone of taxpayer-funded instrumentation, data, predictive modeling, & forecasts provided by NOAA". On March 5, 113 members of the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
sent a letter to the
United States Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business and governmental decision making, establishing industrial standards, catalyzing econ ...
to "express profound outrage" to the termination of 880 NOAA employees. The 113 members of Congress went on to say: On March 6, over 1,000 people protested outside of the NOAA office complex in
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
and on March 7, a protest occurred outside of the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide rang ...
in
Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...
; both to protest the 880 NOAA terminations. On March 8, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reported at least 1,000 more NOAA employees were set to be terminated, downsizing NOAA's pre-terminations workforce by 20%. Throughout the day on March 8, several terminated NOAA employees posted on X and
Bluesky Bluesky is a microblogging social media social networking service, service. Users can share short posts containing text, images, and videos. It is owned by Bluesky Social PBC, a benefit corporation based in the United States. Bluesky was dev ...
they were rehired by the
Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...
. Andy Hazelton, a former physical scientist at the NOAA
Environmental Modeling Center The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) is a United States Government agency, which improves numerical weather, marine and climate predictions at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), through a broad program of research in d ...
(EMC), reported none of the EMC terminated employees were rehired. However, on April 10, reports came out that some probationary employees had been "re-fired" after being placed on administrative leave in mid-March. On April 22, NOAA approved the deferred resignations or buyouts of 1,029 NOAA employees, which was offered by President Donald Trump to all U.S. government employees on January 28, 2025. On May 7, the
Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...
(DOC) sent a letter to all 880 probationary employees that were fired on February 27 and those rehired and refired on April 10. The letter stated its' issuance to the fired probationary employees was ordered by Judge
William Alsup William Haskell Alsup (born June 27, 1945) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as senior United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed to the Northern District of California ...
of the
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...
. The letter stated Judge Alsup determined the probationary employees were not fired based on the initial firing reasonings of "performance or fitness based" but was rather "part of a government-wide mass termination". John Guenther, the Department of Commerce's acting General Counsel stated in the letter, "the Department believes it to be both legally and factually erroneous" on employees not being fired based on "performance or fitness based" reasonings, and that the DOC "intends to rigorously defend its actions as this matter continues through litigation". On May 30, the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
released that only 850 probationary employees from the entire Department of Commerce were fired, not that 880 were fired from NOAA, a single branch of the Department of Commerce.


Effects of the terminations

A
weather balloon A weather balloon, also known as a sounding balloon, is a balloon (specifically a type of high-altitude balloon) that carries instruments to the stratosphere to send back information on atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity and wind spe ...
launch station maintained by the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
in Alaska was forced to cease launches due to the terminations resulting in staff shortages. The NOAA
Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) is a laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). It is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a subsidiar ...
(GLERL), a branch of the
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research. NOAA Research is the research and development arm of NOAA and is the driving force beh ...
announced the terminations resulted in a staff shortage and the office would be taking an "indefinite hiatus". Nicole Rice, an employee at the GLERL who was terminated reported 20% of the GLERL office was terminated. ''
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' reported that one of the "deepest of NOAA's cuts was to the
Office of Space Commerce The Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is an office within National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration which is part of the United States Department of Commerce. It is currently one of several offices within the department that are responsibl ...
" (OSC). Researchers, including dual-role
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
(OU)-federal researchers at the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide rang ...
, located on the OU campus were terminated, which included students in the OU School of Meteorology. Ten employees were fired from the
Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory The Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) is a laboratory in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR). The current director is Venkatachalam Ramaswamy. It is one of seven ...
, located on at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. On March 4, the National Weather Service office in Paducah, Kentucky cancelled their student volunteer program and to "suspend new arrangements for prospective meteorology students to shadow at our office" due to the terminations. The National Weather Service office in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
,
Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...
, had over 36% of its staff terminated, leaving only seven meteorologists, which is four less than what is required for minimal staffing to run the 24/7 office. On March 7, the National Weather Service offices in Albany, New York, and Gray, Maine, stopped launching weather balloons due to staffing issues from the terminations. The offices in Omaha, Nebraska, and Rapid City, South Dakota, also stopped launching weather balloons on March 20 due to staff shortages. On March 31, the NWS provided a complete list of offices across the country affected by the cancellation or reduction of weather balloon launches (image to the right). The terminations are expected to cause a loss in the ability to predict events such as blizzards and tornadoes, not only affecting the U.S. but neighboring Canada as well. On March 31,
U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...
Mike Flood visited the National Weather Service office in Omaha, Nebraska, saying he would work to restore weather balloon launches at the office. On May 2,
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
reported there were 30 National Weather Service offices without a lead meteorologist. It was also reported that the National Weather Service office in
Goodland, Kansas Goodland is a city in and the county seat of Sherman County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,465. It was named after Goodland, Indiana. Goodland is home to Northwest Kansas Technical College ...
was the first NWS office no longer operating
24/7 In commerce and industry, 24/7 or 24-7 service (usually pronounced "twenty-four seven") is service that is available at any time and usually, every day. An alternate orthography for the numerical part includes 24×7 (usually pronounced "twenty- ...
and that "about a dozen more" are likely to stop 24/7 service as well. CNN also reported there were more than 90 vacancies for NOAA
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band pulse-Doppler radar, Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ...
-radar technicians and repairmen jobs.


Involvement of DOGE

On February 4, 2025, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' reported employees of the
Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...
(DOGE) had entered the headquarters of the NOAA in
Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially Unincorporated area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...
, reporting "they apparently just sort of walked past security and said: 'Get out of my way,' and they're looking for access for the IT systems, as they have in other agencies".
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
reported on February6 that DOGE employees had gained access to the NOAA computer systems. Staff from the NOAA Information Technology group and the
Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...
attempted to keep the operatives from the systems according to security protocols, but the operatives defied authorized security staff and forcefully entered the facilities. Two Democratic Congress members characterized DOGE's presence in NOAA systems as "hackers". NOAA staff noted that the actions of the operatives could directly cause risk to human life by hindering NOAA and
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
operations. ABC also reported that operatives were also looking for anything connected to
diversity, equity, and inclusion In the United States, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are organizational frameworks that seek to promote the fair treatment and full participation of all people, particularly groups who have historically been underrepresented or subject ...
(DEI) on bulletin boards and were inspecting bathroom signs to ensure compliance with Trump's executive orders. On February 12, ''
Grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on h ...
'' reported that the
Trump administration Presidency of Donald Trump may refer to: * First presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration from 2017 to 2021 * Second presidency of Donald Trump, the United States presidential administration since 2025 See also * ...
started to shrink the
Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency may refer to the following government organizations: * Environmental Protection Agency (Queensland), Australia * Environmental Protection Agency (Ghana) * Environmental Protection Agency (Ireland) * Environmenta ...
(EPA), nearly 170 employees at the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights were placed on paid administrative leave. On March 2, Ryan Maue, the chief scientist for NOAA during the
first presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's first tenure as the president of the United States began on January 20, 2017, when Trump First inauguration of Donald Trump, was inaugurated as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president, and ended on January ...
, suggested on X that the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...
should redirect all NOAA funds saved by DOGE to the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
. On March 9, ''
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...
'' reported the wife of Brent Pounds, a former officer for the
NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps (informally the NOAA Corps) is one of eight federal uniformed services of the United States, and operates under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( ...
, was assisting DOGE and was giving notes to
Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a businessman. He is known for his leadership of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk has been considered the wealthiest person in th ...
.


NOAA contract involvement

On February 17, 2025, DOGE released the names of 1,127 federal contracts spanning 39 federal departments and agencies, including the NOAA, that DOGE says had been terminated. A ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
'' analysis of these over 1,000 contracts found inaccuracies of DOGE's reported savings, including counting contracts multiple times, listing contracts that have already been paid as savings, and misrepresenting potential savings based on contract limits rather than actual spending. On February 24, 2025, DOGE released more documents, with the total nearing 2,300 contracts released. The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
found that "nearly 40%" of the terminated contracts would not save the government any money. On March 1, NOAA, at the recommendation of DOGE, terminated the
University of Maine The University of Maine (UMaine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Orono, Maine, United States. It was established in 1865 as the land-grant college of Maine and is the Flagship universitie ...
's multi-million-dollar Maine Sea Grant, saying "it has been determined that the program activities proposed to be carried out in Year 2 of the Maine Sea Grant Omnibus Award are no longer relevant to the focus of the Administration’s priorities and program objectives". This grant termination has not been announced by DOGE. As of June 3, 2025, DOGE released 189 NOAA-specific contracts it claims to have terminated, partially terminated, or interacted with, for a total contract value of $116,922,108.46, and a claimed savings of $35,125,446. On May 30, 2025, the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
reported DOGE terminated a $5.9 million
Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce (DOC) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for gathering data for business ...
contract for "environmental consulting support services", and from that termination it was reported DOGE saved the federal government $613 million. This contract termination has not yet been reported by DOGE yet. Below is an incomplete list of NOAA-specific contracts DOGE terminated, partially terminated, or interacted with.


Grant terminations

On April 14, 2025, the
Department of Government Efficiency The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is an initiative by the second Trump administration within the federal government of the United States. Its stated objective is to modernize information technology, maximize productivity, and cut ...
announced that a grant from NOAA to the
United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. Established in 1961 and reorganized in 1998 ...
(USAID) was terminated on March 31, 2025, and that details regarding the grant, including its description and total value were "unavailable". A month later on May 26, DOGE announced it was terminating the federal grant funding for the Cooperative Institute for Modeling the Earth System (CIMES), one of the 16 cooperative institutes jointly owned and operated by the NOAA
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research. NOAA Research is the research and development arm of NOAA and is the driving force beh ...
(OAR) and
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
. DOGE announced that three separate grants for CIMES would be terminated on June 30, 2025: one for $45.56 million, a second for $5.18 million, and a third grant whose information was redacted entirely.


Lease terminations

On March 3, 2025, ''
The Verge ''The Verge'' is an American Technology journalism, technology news website headquarters, headquartered in Lower Manhattan, New York City and operated by Vox Media. The website publishes news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, cons ...
'' & ''
Axios Axios commonly refers to: * Axios (river), a river that runs through Greece and North Macedonia * ''Axios'' (website), an American news and information website Axios may also refer to: Brands and enterprises * Axios, a brand of suspension produ ...
'' reported leaked information from DOGE saying, NOAA was planning to terminate the building leases for the
National Centers for Environmental Prediction The United States National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) delivers national and global weather, water, climate, and space weather guidance, forecasts, warnings, and analyses to government agencies and private users. The centers f ...
's building in
College Park, Maryland College Park is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, located approximately from the northeast border of Washington, D.C. Its population was 34,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the home of the University of Mary ...
, which also houses the
Environmental Modeling Center The Environmental Modeling Center (EMC) is a United States Government agency, which improves numerical weather, marine and climate predictions at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), through a broad program of research in d ...
and the
Weather Prediction Center The Weather Prediction Center (WPC), located in College Park, Maryland, is one of nine service centers under the umbrella of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), a part of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is ...
, and the
Radar Operations Center The Radar Operations Center (ROC) is a National Weather Service (NWS) unit that coordinates the development, maintenance, and training for the NEXRAD weather radar network. It is located near the University of Oklahoma Westheimer Airport in Norma ...
's building on the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
's campus in
Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, 3rd most populous city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,026 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous city and the county seat of Clevel ...
. On March 5, M. Scott Carter, the chief political reporter for ''
The Oklahoman ''The Oklahoman'' is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circul ...
'', falsely reported "the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide rang ...
is among many Oklahoma offices that have been included on a Department of Government Efficiency list of federal buildings to be closed". On March 17,
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
, reporting from the word of an anonymous NOAA spokesperson, stated the
Storm Prediction Center The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) is a US government agency that is part of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP), operating under the control of the National Weather Service (NWS), which in turn is part of the National Oceani ...
(SPC), located in
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide rang ...
, was set to be closed by DOGE. On March 5, 2025, DOGE announced the termination of 19 various NOAA building leases. On March 19, DOGE reinstated two of the leases, leaving only 17 NOAA building leases set to be terminated. On May 3, DOGE reinstated two more leases, leaving only 15 NOAA building leases set to be terminated. On May 26, DOGE reinstated seven more leases, leaving only 8 NOAA building leases set to be terminated.


Database closures

On April 2, 2025, the
National Centers for Environmental Information The National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) is a U.S. government agency that manages one of the world's largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data. The current director is Deke Arndt. NCEI is operate ...
(NCEI), a branch of the NOAA
National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service The National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) was created by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate and manage the United States environmental satellite programs, and manage the data ...
(NESDIS), announced it would be closing and decommissioning several databases and websites. NCEI announced the Shoreline/Coastline Resources page, the Coastal Water Temperature Guide, the Thermal (geothermal) Hot Springs List for the United States, and the Thermal Hot Springs List for the United States would be decommissioned and closed from public access on May 5, 2025. NCEI also announced the United States Earthquake Intensity Database and its sub-databases including the Earthquake Strong Motion Database would be decommissioned also on May 5, 2025. NCEI later announced the Geological History of the World's Oceanic Crust database would be closed on May 12, 2025. Also during April 2025, NCEI announced that all six Regional Climate Center websites would go offline by June 17, 2025, or earlier. On May 8, NCEI announced it would be closing and retiring the ''Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters'' database.


2026 budget proposal

In Early-Mid 2025, the United States’
Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). The office's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, while it also examines agency pro ...
(OMB) released a seven-page proposed budget for NOAA in 2026. The proposed budget was proposed to cut 27.28% of NOAA’s budget in order to "eliminate functions of the Department that are misaligned with the President's agenda and the expressed will of the American people". The proposed budget included a large budget cut from every branch of NOAA, except the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS), which would be exactly equal to their previous budget. The
Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR) is a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). OAR is also referred to as NOAA Research. NOAA Research is the research and development arm of NOAA and is the driving force beh ...
(OAR) had a 73.86% budget cut proposed, which would "eliminate all funding for climate, weather, and ocean Laboratories and Cooperative Institutes. It also does not fund Regional Climate Data and Information, Climate Competitive Research, Sea Grant (College and Aquaculture), or the National Oceanographic Partnership Program. This includes the complete defunding of the
National Severe Storms Laboratory The National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) is a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) weather research laboratory under the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. It is one of seven NOAA Research Laboratories (RLs). NSS ...
(NSSL) and the
Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations The Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations (CIWRO) is one of 16 NOAA Cooperative Institutes (CIs), hosted at the University of Oklahoma. Before Oct. 1, 2021, it was known as the Cooperative Institute for ...
(CIWRO), both located at the
National Weather Center The National Weather Center (NWC), on the campus of the University of Oklahoma, is a confederation of federal, state, and academic organizations that work together to better understand events that take place in Earth's atmosphere over a wide rang ...
on the
University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...
campus. The proposed budget also included directions for NOAA to transfer the National Weather Service’s
Space Weather Prediction Center The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), named the Space Environment Center (SEC) until 2007, is a laboratory and service center of the US National Weather Service (NWS), part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), loc ...
(SWPC) over to the
Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...
, as the agency "better aligns with DHS's mission to protect critical infrastructure." The proposal continued by saying DHS would "take on the operational mission to predict space weather events and disseminate space weather products and warnings".


Other changes

Following Executive Order 14172, signed by President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025, the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
and other Line Offices changed all maps and products to refer to the
Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...
as the "Gulf of America", costing untold hours of staff time to make the changes. In March 2025, amid the
2025 United States government online resource removals The 2025 United States government online resource removals are a series of web page and dataset deletions and modifications across multiple United States federal agencies beginning in January 2025. Following executive orders from President Donal ...
, an unknown executive order signed by President Donald Trump resulted in the NOAA ''Radar Next Program Overview'' document being removed from NOAA servers. The automated translation of NWS warnings into Spanish has also stopped after the contract expired.


Domestic terrorism threats

In May 2025, Veterans on Patrol, a militarized and "violent militia-style group" made public threats to take down all 159
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band pulse-Doppler radar, Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ...
-radar sites across the United States. The NEXRAD sites are jointly owned and operated by the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS), the
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
(FAA) within the Department of Transportation, and the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...
within the
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
. NOAA sent an email to all personnel alerting them to the threats.
CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...
reported the email stated, "this group is advocating for anyone and everyone to join them in conducting penetration drills on NEXRAD sites to identify weaknesses which can be used to ultimately destroy the sites" and that "the group referred to the NEXRAD system towers as 'weather weapons,' and claimed there were no laws preventing American citizens from destroying the 'weapons,'".


See also

*
Science policy of the second Donald Trump administration The science policy of the second Donald Trump administration is seeing broad funding freezes and cuts (or proposed cuts). Broad research areas targeted so far have included climate change, vaccine hesitancy, HIV/AIDS, and COVID-19. Also, research ...
* Information, science and research under the second Trump administration * United States federal government targets of Elon Musk *
2025 United States federal mass layoffs More than 275,000 United States federal civil service layoffs have been announced by the second Trump administration. , the New York Times tracked more than 58,000 confirmed cuts, more than 76,000 employee buyouts, and more than 149,000 other ...
* Outline of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration *
University of Oklahoma during the second presidency of Donald Trump Following the second inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States, and the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) on January 20, 2025, several major changes occurred across the United States, including chan ...
*
List of weather modification projects in the United States during 2025 This is a list of weather modification projects in the United States during the second presidency of Donald Trump in 2025. In the United States, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) keeps records of weather modification projec ...


References


External links

* {{Authority control Department of Government Efficiency Political activities of Elon Musk Second presidency of Donald Trump Second Trump administration controversies National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration