NOAA's public weather data powers the local forecasts on your phone and TV

Chesterton's Fence [1] would also seem to apply here, but I mostly think it's not even getting that far. DOGE isn't doing an audit (if it was, there would be auditors, not talented young programmers) and then taking action. DOGE is executing already planned actions, while pretending to be an audit, and helping itself to a great deal of access and data along the way.

1. https://theknowledge.io/chestertons-fence-explained/

I can't wait for them to come for GPS (run by DoD). All these people want to do is replace these government functions with a worse and more expensive private alternative but hey, someone gets to rent-seek massive profits, so that's OK. It's also a lesson in how for many things, them being run by a government entity is the best alternative.

If you want to see actual waste, how about a current sitting Senator and former Florida governor who, at the time, run a company that got the largest fine in history for defrauding Medicare to the tune of $1.7 billion [1], something for which nobody faced criminal prosecution.

[1]: https://www.factcheck.org/2014/06/floridas-medicare-fraud-fl...

As someone who has had experience at NOAA, I'd like to point out that the way they manage information security seems really wasteful. All of the tools they need are present in the environment, but there has not been sufficient political will for the various sub-agencies to work together and integrate them holistically. The net effect is duplication of half-baked cyber security functions across NOAA. The line items are purchased but the sub-agencies lack the man-power to effectively implement what's possible because government processes are too much overhead. It doesn't help that their FISMA-reportable "systems" are their sub-agencies and not actual systems. The 'mangerial class' that Republicans have rallied against during the 2024 election is sucking the lifeblood out of NOAA's IT operations.

> The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.

* https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHA...

One benefit to some is the continued assault on sources of truth: Academics, everyone even arguably left-wing, news media, science, now we lack a source of truth on weather. More generally, the idea of an apoltical, non-profit source of truth is actively denied and any example is destroyed. The CIA and FBI are other examples.

Without a source of truth, how can any public agreement or action form? All information becomes social media. Notice who controls that too: Meta, X, and also Bytedance will be beholden to the same people destroying all else.