The Nation Needs NOAA | Opinion

The federal government serves you something every day, multiple times a day—sometimes before you even eat breakfast. It is an incredible bang for the taxpayer buck. And it's so basic, so integral to our lives, that we take it as a given.

I'm talking about tracking the weather.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) collects, analyzes and disseminates vast amounts of data through its National Weather Service—information all of us count on, every day.

President Donald Trump and Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team are attacking and threatening to destroy this agency, its people, and its mission. Just this week without cause or justification, the administration illegally fired hundreds of experts who keep us safe and keep our economy running.

Now, Congress must step up to halt this reckless effort to dismantle NOAA. Let's be crystal clear, these actions are consequential.

Know it or not, you routinely depend on accurate, accessible weather and climate information. Farmers who grow the crops that become your food, shipping vessels that move your packages, the planes you fly, the businesses you frequent, the electricity you use—all depend on NOAA. They rely on its weather forecasts, flooding predictions, hurricane and storm alerts, air temperature readings, nautical charts, and other scientific data.

And you don't get that excellent weather forecast without all of the infrastructure and capital assets within the same agency—the ships and planes, the satellites, the ocean observations, and the newest forecast models.

Plus, it is not just the weather here on Earth that we need to monitor. NOAA keeps tabs on space weather and geomagnetic storms, which have the potential to disrupt or ruin everything from GPS to satellite-based communications to the electrical grid.

Not only does NOAA provide critical weather forecasts, it also manages ocean ecosystems and monitors the health of fisheries. All of us rely on NOAA for safe seafood in our grocery stores, restaurants, and on our dinner tables that feeds millions of people, and supports jobs and coastal economies. When we head to the beach to relax, go fishing or take a boat out on the water, we are relying on NOAA to keep our coasts and ocean clean and healthy.

Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, when asked by Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) during his confirmation hearing, promised not to dismantle NOAA, but subsequently watered that promise down.

Meanwhile, the DOGE team has already accessed the agency's computers and is slashing its budget and staff. The administration's Project 2025 handbook explicitly spells out goals to downsize the agency, break it up, and privatize parts of it.

Privatizing, politicizing, and undermining the integrity and credibility of this agency, which has served the country effectively for half a century, would be a disaster, and a danger to all of us. Moreover, the logic behind a move to privatize any portion is just faulty. There's no guarantee that the private sector is willing to pick up either the capital expenditure or the operation and maintenance (much less the legal liabilities) of some 122 weather radars, 16 satellites, 15 ships and 10 airplanes. That's like saying, "Let's privatize the Navy," and assuming someone will buy all the aircraft carriers.

Our reliance on the intelligence NOAA generates will only grow in this era of extreme weather and catastrophic climate impacts—hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, tsunamis, and wildfires. Credible, accessible information saves lives. And it saves money. Last year, climate and weather disasters cost Americans over $182 billion. When so many lives are at stake, it is critical for us to have reliable predictions and forecasts.

Every member of Congress, regardless of party, must speak up loudly in defense of NOAA, and use every tool at their disposal to safeguard the agency, its science, and the invaluable services it provides to keep people safe. Congress cannot afford to stand silently while Trump and DOGE harm their constituents and break the law, in a bid to pay for tax breaks for billionaire friends and donors.

All of us stand to lose critical services that underpin our health, safety, and economies if we allow NOAA to be dismantled or diminished.

Dr. Richard Spinrad is the former under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and the 11th administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.