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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Oliver Milman

‘Chaos’: Trump cuts to Noaa disrupt staffing and weather forecasts

A person holds a weather balloon
The agency has reduced the number of weather balloons it releases in six locations across the US. Photograph: The Washington Post/Getty Images

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.

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