By and Feb 28, 2025
The Trump administration has its government-shrinking sights set on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, where around 800 employees have been tapped for termination, according to two sources close to the agency.
More layoffs are possible Friday, one of the sources said, potentially costing the weather, climate and environmental agency more than a thousand employees by the end of the week.
Most divisions of the agency, which employs scientists and specialists in weather, oceans, biodiversity, climate and other research and planetary monitoring fields, were affected.
Probationary employees — those who have been in their jobs for a year or less, in most cases — were fired Thursday, a person inside the National Weather Service told CNN. There are between 350 and 375 employees with that status at the weather service, though it’s not clear how many of those were impacted; the person has heard there were some exemptions given to critical positions — likely life-threatening disaster forecasting roles, including hurricanes and severe thunderstorms.
National Weather Service employees are protected by a workers’ union, which was trying Thursday night to contact affected employees. Some employees who were fired said on social media that they were going to explore their legal options.
The people who were charged with conducting the terminations seemed to have acted in a way that would minimize paper trails, a source close to NOAA said, making it difficult for others at the agency to know who was affected and leaving news of the firings to spread by word of mouth.
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