Cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration appear to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800, said Craig McLean, a former NOAA chief scientist who said he got the information from someone with firsthand knowledge. That’s about 10% of NOAA’s workforce.
The first round of cuts were probationary employees, McLean said.
There are about 375 probationary employees in the National Weather Service — where day-to-day forecasting and hazard warning is done — and employees there so far don’t know of any of them who have been spared the layoff knife yet, though some might be.
Many probationary employees with NOAA have been fired, sources tell AP
Dozens and perhaps hundreds of weather forecasters and other federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees on probationary status were fired Thursday, multiple sources told The Associated Press.
Federal workers not let go said the afternoon layoffs were in the tens or dozens so far, with people just getting their notices and no firm number available. They include meteorologists who do crucial local forecasts in National Weather Service offices across the country.
U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, a California Democrat who is the ranking minority member in the House Natural Resources Committee, put out a statement saying it was “hundreds of scientists and experts at NOAA.”
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