LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Staff cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration could interrupt the weather forecasts many Americans rely on. Several hundred NOAA employees have been fired. NPR's Alejandra Borunda reports.
ALEJANDRA BORUNDA, BYLINE: Did you check the weather on your phone this morning? If you did, you interacted with NOAA.
TIM GALLAUDET: What NOAA does really is they support pretty much every American every day in a positive way.
BORUNDA: That's retired Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet. He led NOAA during the first Trump administration. He says the agency is most visible during weather emergencies.
GALLAUDET: Like during hurricane season when the National Hurricane Center is putting out the well-publicized graphics of hurricane tracks - projected track. But also daily weather warnings that every American gets.
BORUNDA: NOAA also helps manage the country's ocean fisheries. It creates nautical charts that keep ships from running aground. It protects species like whales and corals. It tracks space weather that can endanger commercial airlines. The firings last week hit every part of the agency. Gallaudet called it a sledgehammer approach.
GALLAUDET: There's a smarter way to do this. I don't think you need to slash and burn NOAA or any federal agency.
BORUNDA: Rick Spinrad led NOAA during the Biden administration. He says...
RICK SPINRAD: If you degrade the capability for predicting landfall of hurricanes or timing of tornadoes or severity of fire, flood or drought, there would be consequences both to property and lives, as well as probably more crop damage.
BORUNDA: Spinrad says the fallout from the staff cuts could also lead to economic pain, like disruptions to the multitrillion-dollar marine shipping industry or offshore fishing. But the cuts could go deeper still. The Trump administration has asked for even more staff cuts from NOAA and other federal agencies. NOAA has not responded to NPR's request for comment.
For NPR news, I'm Alejandra Borunda. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
