The Trump administration has told the federal government’s ocean and atmosphere scientists to stop their international work.

Word came down verbally in all-staff meetings throughout the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday: All “international engagements” were on hold.

Staff were told to stop having discussions or meetings, real or virtual, on international topics.

The edict included directions not to email or work with “foreign national colleagues,” according to WIRED, which first reported it.

NOAA employees told KUOW that career officials with the agency struggled to interpret the edict and tell employees which specific activities were prohibited.

“[The agency] is seeking guidance currently on whether or not email exchanges regarding science are included in this,” an internal document obtained by KUOW said.

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All the following “engagements” are on pause indefinitely until political appointees atop the agency can review them, according to an internal NOAA document:

• International travel or meetings

• Virtual meetings on international topics

• Bilateral meetings

• International working group or expert group meetings

• International science organization meetings

• Emails with international organizations discussing policy positions

NOAA, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has about 12,000 employees, more than half of whom are scientists and engineers, according to the agency’s website.

Its many branches include the National Weather Service, the National and Pacific Tsunami Warning Centers, and NOAA Fisheries, responsible for everything from salmon catches to endangered orcas.

The agency is also a major hub of climate monitoring and research. Project 2025, the conservative Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for the Trump administration, calls NOAA “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry,” suggesting the agency be “broken up and downsized.”

“If you care about the weather, if you care about the ocean, if you care about the climate,” former NOAA deputy director Andrew Rosenberg told NPR, “then you are dependent to a significant degree on the work that NOAA does. Whether you know it or not.”

Since storms, tsunamis, and salmon all travel freely, much of NOAA’s work is necessarily international.

“The ocean has no borders,” one scientist who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution told KUOW. “We cannot adequately do our jobs if we can’t interact with scientists abroad.”

“‘They can’t be serious,' that’s what I thought,” another scientist said.

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Career civil servants convinced political appointees to let the Pacific Salmon Commission, a binational body that divvies up commercial catches between Canada and the U.S., continue its work, according to an anonymous scientist.

“But there are many other species that span multiple borders, like orcas and sardines [and] tuna,” the source said.

Agency managers told employees they needed to track and report any international activities planned through the end of March for approval, though they could keep sending “logistical/technical” emails internationally.

A regional NOAA spokesperson declined to comment, referring a reporter to NOAA headquarters, which did not respond to interview requests on Friday.

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/02/08/trump-noaa-stop-work/