NOAA includes the National Weather Service and the National Hurricane Center, which are responsible for weather forecasting and warning the public of approaching storms.
The news that DOGE had infiltrated the agency's headquarters raised concerns that the informal group led by Musk, which seeks to reform the federal government, could deal NOAA a serious blow.
““It seems like a hostile corporate takeover of a government agency that provides a suite of services to the public to protect lives and to protect property,” Juan Decklet-Barreto, senior social scientist for climate vulnerability at the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), told The Verge.
These actions are in line with the Trump administration's overall policy of reducing attention to climate change. In particular, it is planned to downsize NOAA and transfer weather data to private hands, which could limit people's access to important information during natural disasters.
One of the employees told The Verge that despite the "demoralizing" changes at the agency, he decided to stay because his job is extremely important - people rely on NOAA for accurate weather forecasting every day.