Not too long ago, Andy Hazelton was gathering data in a plane for NOAA. He had just joined the agency in October 2024, but he was let go in February 2025. He doesn’t know why.
“We’re public safety, and what we do, it matters for everybody, like I said. It’s not political,” Hazelton said.
John Cortinas said he retired from the NOAA office in Virginia Key after cuts were being made. He said he didn’t like the direction the agency was headed.
“I was worried about what was happening and what we see happening, and I didn’t want to be a part of that,” Cortinas said.
According to CBS News, about 2200 NOAA employees have been fired or have taken buyouts since January. About 500 people worked at the National Weather Service, which oversees the National Hurricane Center.
A protest was held in downtown Miami about the cuts.
“The work we do in a lot of ways pays for itself and is really one of the most efficient things out there,” Hazelton said. “Many of these cuts happened just before hurricane season. And now that we’re in hurricane season, many of these protestors feel these cuts make them vulnerable.”
CBS News asked the National Hurricane Center Director, Mike Brennan, about the agency’s preparedness for storm season.
“We’re fully operational, ready for the hurricane season. Our products, services and warnings are going to go out as they always do,” Brennan told CBS News.
But protesters feel the cuts are an attack on science.
“To think that our federal government would even consider cutting scientific research that could literally be life-saving for so many millions of people that live along the coastline here in Florida… It’s just appalling and it’s shocking,” said Raquel Pacheco, of Indivisible Miami, which is a progressive, grassroots, political organization.
The Trump administration said the cuts are part of a broader strategy to cut federal spending and streamline the federal workforce.
