Hundreds of employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—one of the premier science agencies in the federal government— were laid off today, continuing an unrelenting assault on federal workers by the Trump administration.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is overseeing this development despite denying during his recent confirmation hearing that he planned to dismantle NOAA. The layoffs are consistent with Project 2025’s goal of undermining NOAA and raise concerns about additional future threats. Project 2025 also calls for breaking NOAA apart and privatizing parts of its work, making essential data—such as weather forecasting—largely inaccessible to the public for free.
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) on Wednesday delivered a letter signed by 2,500 scientific experts calling on Congress and Secretary Lutnick to protect NOAA’s staff, funding and scientific independence.
Below is a statement by Dr. Juan Declet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability in the Climate and Energy Program at UCS.
“Today’s mass layoffs of NOAA staff signals a grim new reality: one where career federal scientists will be recklessly discarded, and the lifesaving science they do will be significantly undermined.
“When testifying under oath, Howard Lutnick assured congressional members that if confirmed as commerce secretary, NOAA wouldn’t be dismantled under his watch—a promise that was broken today. It seems either Lutnick willingly lied to Congress and the American people or that he has caved in record-breaking time to the destructive agenda of the Trump-Musk regime.
“Decimating the nation’s core scientific enterprise, even as costly and deadly climate change impacts and extreme weather events worsen, flies in the face of logic, common sense and fiscal responsibility. NOAA’s data and science are used routinely by weather forecasters, mariners, farmers, emergency responders, businesses and everyday people across the country. Everyone in the United States relies on NOAA in their daily lives whether they realize it or not, something that will come into focus for many in the weeks and months ahead.
“Gutting NOAA is a political move designed to suppress climate science research at the expense of providing critical information that helps ensure the safety of communities. Censoring science does not change the facts about climate change. These destructive actions against a leading science agency are an illegal overreach of presidential authority that must be challenged by Congress and in the courts.”
Additional Resources:
• Open letter organized by UCS and signed by more than 2,500 scientific experts, which was sent to Congress and the Commerce Secretary urging protection of NOAA.
• A statement released when “DOGE” illegally entered NOAA’s headquarters earlier this month.
• A statement released when Dr. Neil Jacobs was nominated to lead NOAA earlier this month.
• The blogpost “We Need a Strong and Independent NOAA to Protect Our Lives and Homes from Climate Change.”
• The blogpost “What the U.S. Needs from a New NOAA Administrator (Science, Please).”
• The blogpost “New Emails Show Acting Administrator Neil Jacobs is Unfit to Lead NOAA.”
• The blogpost "A Day Without NOAA, a Day Without the National Weather Service?"