Over the past couple of weeks, thousands of public servants working at federal agencies—NOAA, the National Weather Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Forest Services were terminated by the Trump Administration. Many were scientists: hydrologists, geologists, data scientists, modelers, and oceanographers. But many others were science communicators, responsible for sharing the work of their agencies with the American people.

As a result of the firings, these agencies have less capacity to respond to public inquiries and journalist questions. A statement on NOAA’s media contact page reads: “Due to recent federal layoffs that affected NOAA media relations staff as well as subject matter experts, journalists might experience delays in responses to media inquiries and information requests. We appreciate your patience and understanding.” Eos reporters have indeed experienced delays obtaining comments from scientists at some federal agencies.

The firing of communications staff members at NOAA hamstrings the agency’s ability to complete its mission, said Matthew Koller, a former communications specialist at NOAA who was fired in the recent round of terminations. “NOAA can be doing all this great science to understand our world and to try and figure out how we can prepare for a changing planet. But if we don’t have people out there who are trying to make sense of this science and use language that decision makers and everyday people can understand, that’s a huge loss for government transparency,” he said.

Climate science experts are also available to comment on the climate impacts of recent science policy decisions via news@agu.org

—Grace van Deelen (@gvd.bsky.social), Staff Writer

This news article is included in Eos’s collection of Research and Developments updates.

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