Weather Service officials resign

Published 21 May 2007

David Johnson and John Jones step down; budgetary matters at issue, also management problems

Storm winds are blowing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) — the agency that controls the satellites that provide weather data for the United States. The Associated Press reports that the David Johnson, the head of the National Weather Service has resigned, as has his deputy, John Jones. This followed criticism from an official at the National Hurricane System that NOAA’s funding priorties were out of whack, with $4 million budgeted for an anniversary celebration and only $700,000 for hurricane research. (This matter was not mentioned in Johnson and Jones’s letters of resignation.) It is hard to know what to make of the whole thing, except for something a little bird told us: the agency also suffered from severe management problems, and there were certain violations of procedure as well — violations that upset NOAA administrator admiral Conrad Lautenbacher. Stay tuned for more.