It was a regular day at the home office in Miami for Andy Hazelton. At the end of the work shift, the email arrived that he, and hundreds of other employees at NOAA, had feared.
"The authority believes that you do not fit as a continued employee due to your abilities, knowledge, and/or skills not meeting the authority's current needs".
I got upset. Even though I knew it could happen, I was a bit surprised and nervous about what would happen next. I understood that I would need to make plans, he says.
Andy Hazelton has worked with hurricanes for NOAA for eight years. He has, among other things, sat in the reconnaissance aircraft that literally fly into the storms to gather data. But it was not until October last year that he got a permanent position at the authority, where he improved hurricane forecasts with the help of computer models, he tells TT.
The four-children father Hazelton is one of 800 employees at the authority who got laid off on the day. Since he still had a probationary employment, he was easy to fire. The email came from a high-ranking manager. Neither Hazelton's immediate manager nor the manager's manager knew that he would be fired.
I basically had to shut down the computer and return it.
Targeted in Project 2025
NOAA is a giant authority with 12,000 employees. Like the Swedish SMHI, they work with weather forecasts and ocean data. But the authority also has a broader role that involves managing fisheries, coastal protection, and supporting shipping – here, research is conducted on everything from whales to solar storms. A third of the American economy is estimated to be affected in some way by the authority's data.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and the Trump administration want to save billions on the country's authorities. Maybe the climate-skeptical Trump administration has an extra axe to grind with NOAA, where world-class research on the effects of climate change is conducted.
In the ultra-conservative plan Project 2025, which has close ties to Trump's White House, there are ideas about privatizing parts of NOAA and dismantling others.
I am completely worried, says Emily, who is actually named something else and who was previously a high-ranking manager at the authority.
NOAA, among other things, makes long-term forecasts that affect farmers. In addition to studying and warning about hurricanes, they also warn about, for example, tornadoes, fire, and flood risks.
The cuts will critically damage the American economy, but also cost many human lives, as people will not get the information they need in time to act, says Emily.
She is surprised by the high speed at which the sweeping changes are being implemented.
We understood that things would happen, but the speed at which it is happening is not about state efficiency. It is pure and simple state stupidity, she says.
Inside the authority's walls, a culture of silence is growing. People dare not say what they think, out of fear of reprisals. Like other state employees, they must weekly report what they have worked on the past week.
This creates an environment where everyone is tense all the time. It is not a good recipe for productivity, says Emily.
Not just the USA
But it is not only Americans who benefit from NOAA. Among the nearly 7,000 researchers working for the authority are some of the world's leading climate experts, who study how the planet is changing due to global warming.
NOAA also collects weather and climate data from numerous measurement stations, satellites, and balloons. The information is shared internationally and used to make forecasts and monitor climate change.
If there is any disruption to the collection of that data, it is a scientific catastrophe, says Rachel Cleetus, policy chief at the organization Union of Concerned Scientists, to TT.
Researchers have signed open letters protesting the cuts, and on March 6, thousands protested across the country against a policy they describe as anti-research.
In late January, a warning system against famine in Africa, which NOAA contributed data to, was shut down. Cleetus fears that it is just the beginning. There is a concern that the global warnings for cyclones and typhoons will also go the same way, and that information sharing will be stripped.
No one can fill the gap after NOAA. It really requires that researchers worldwide collaborate. This is a huge loss for the entire research community. It is not just the data, but the expertise that has been built up over time. It is incomprehensible that the US government is deliberately undermining its own research, she says.
That NOAA has ended up in the crosshairs can be explained by the Trump administration's fondness for the fossil fuel industry, according to her.
The reason they want to bury climate research above all is that they want to continue to invest in fossil fuels. We have people in the government who come directly from the fossil fuel industry or have ties to it, many of whom are against climate research.
"Pretty apolitical"
What will happen to Andy Hazelton and the other laid-off employees is unclear. He has some money set aside. Maybe he will go back to the university world, maybe he will seek out the private sector.
We had hoped it wouldn't get this bad. My type of job is pretty apolitical. We work on providing people with information.
Some federal employees who got fired have been met with celebrations from friends and employees who support Trump.
There have been some comments here and there on social media. But most of my friends and family – even those who support Trump – are very much against what is happening with NOAA and think that he and Musk are doing wrong. But I think that the general public is not aware of how bad it is and the damage they are causing.
He does not rule out the possibility of returning to NOAA in the future.
I would like to. Because I feel strongly about our mission, to serve the people, get the information out, and help save lives and property. I hope it can be so in a more stable future, he says.
The American NOAA (pronounced Noah), stands for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and is the country's ocean and weather authority.
NOAA handles weather forecasts, but also handles fisheries and coastal protection. The giant authority has 12,000 employees and has nearly 7,000 researchers tied to it.
In addition, the authority collects vast amounts of data on the atmosphere and ocean that they share with other researchers around the world.
NOAA has a budget of around 6 billion dollars a year.
To streamline the state apparatus and reduce state expenditures was one of President Donald Trump's more prominent campaign promises.
The appointment of super-entrepreneur Elon Musk as leader of the White House initiative Doge, which works on streamlining authorities, is an important part of that.
Today, there are 2.3 million federal employees, according to USA Today.
In recent weeks, Doge has carried out layoffs and drastic cuts within, among other things, the aid agency USAID, the consumer protection agency CFPB, National Park Service, the defense department, the tax authority IRS, the environmental agency EPA, and the intelligence agency CIA. A total of over 100,000 have been laid off or offered severance packages.
Several lawsuits have been filed from, among other things, organizations that have not received their granted funding. In some cases, judges have requested a stop to some of the actions.
