Hundreds of staffers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, were laid off Thursday as the Trump administration and its newly-created Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, continue slashing the federal workforce.
A congressional source told CBS News the layoffs affected 880 NOAA employees. An administration official told CBS News about 5% of the agency’s staff was let go, and nobody who was deemed critical to NOAA’s responsibilities, such as National Weather Service meteorologists, was affected. A source at the National Weather Service disputed this, however, telling CBS News some meteorologists were included in the cuts.
Laid off staffers who were considered probationary employees received an email Thursday, which read in part, “OPM has advised that ‘[p]robationary periods are an essential tool for agencies to assess employee performance and manage staffing levels.’ (4) In light of that guidance, the Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and/or skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs.”
Some 400 employees at the National Weather Service were in a probationary period, a NWS source told CBS News, but it’s not clear how many of them were included in the layoffs.
Tom DiLiberto, who until Thursday had worked as