MAJOR drama at the National Hurricane Center

[cobalt1999]

This is getting crazy, especially with the peak of hurricane season almost here. There has to be more than just critizing the government going on here.

www.miamiherald.com/574/story/159928.html
NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER Storm director's staff revolt widens

The staff rebellion at the National Hurricane Center grew dramatically, with nearly two dozen employees calling for the departure of director Bill Proenza.

BY MARTIN MERZER
[e-mail]

Nearly half the staff of the National Hurricane Center joined the revolt against director Bill Proenza late Thursday, issuing a statement calling for his immediate dismissal -- another blow to his struggle to keep his job. ''The effective functioning of the National Hurricane Center is at stake,'' said the statement, signed by seven hurricane forecasters and 16 other employees, including many staff scientists and Proenza's secretary.

''The undersigned staff of the National Hurricane Center has concluded that the center needs a new director,'' the manifesto said, ``and with the heart of the hurricane season fast approaching, urges the Department of Commerce to make this happen as quickly as possible.''
...
They said his public statements about an aging satellite have undermined confidence in their forecasts. Others believe that his frequent clashes with superiors in Washington have become a serious distraction as the hurricane season deepens. Virtually the entire senior staff endorsed the manifesto, including:

Senior hurricane forecasters Lixion Avila, James Franklin, Rick Knabb and Richard Pasch; hurricane forecasters Eric Blake, Dan Brown and Michelle Mainelli; meteorologists Wally Barnes, Robert Berg, John Cangialosi, Hugh Cobb, Martin Nelson, Gladys Rubio, Chris Sisko and Patricia Wallace; oceanographer Stephen Baig; executive officer Ahsha Tribble; administrative officer Vivian Jorge; and Proenza's administrative assistant, Evangelina Maruly

[napi21]

1. I heard this on CNN yesterday! This is really a strange story.

I don't think I've ever heard of almost an entire department turning against their boss like this. I think there's more going on internally that we haven't heard about!

[MetaTrope]

2. Proenza has been particularly critical of Bush's lapdog running the NOAA

Who has been notorious for stifling the facts regarding global warming. I wonder if there are some administration maneuvers going on here.

[cobalt1999]

4. Yes, but there has to more than that.

You have scientists and educated people in the NHC, these are not folks that are going to be manipulated by republicans. If half of them have signed a petition to remove the boss, there is more to it than being critical of Bush.

I initially was supportive of Proenza, now there may be more to it.

[malaise]

15. Not if you remember that they want to

hand over weather to their friends and party supporters at AccuWeather

[liberalnurse]

3. Didn't the guy who did it , run the command center for say

30 years or something just retire within the last few years?????Help me here folks. :shrug:

[Cooley Hurd]

6. Max Mayfield...

:thumbsup:

[liberalnurse]

12. Thats him!

Thank you....I had to pick-up extra time in ER last night....I am in a brain fog!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mayfield

[FarCenter]

5. From Jeff Masters' blog at Weather Underground

The following is the conclusion at Weather Underground. See all of the story at http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=710&tstamp=200707

Other critical concerns--lost in the hubbub?

We strongly support many of the valid concerns Proenza has raised. Of particular concern are the slashing of critical research funding for the Joint Hurricane Testbed (JHT) from $1.7 million to $1 million, and the lack of adequate yearly increases to the National Hurricane Center budget. Both of these important concerns still remain to be addressed; they were quickly overshadowed by a frantic campaign by lawmakers to fund a new QuikSCAT satellite. The JHT provides the means for promising research to be tested in the NHC operational environment, usually resulting in a successful transition to an operational product at NHC. This program has been extremely successful, and its budget should have been increased, not slashed. As hurricane activity has increased dramatically over the last twelve years, NHC's budget should have increased accordingly, but it did not.

Proenza also raised legitimate concerns about NOAA's effort to promote their "Corporate Identity" by renaming the National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service. The new organizations would be called the "NOAA Hurricane Center" and the "NOAA Weather Service". He also justly complained about NOAA's plan to spend between $1.5 million and $4 million on a "bogus" 200-year NOAA anniversary celebration.

While wanting to take a neutral stand as to whether to call for Proenza's dismissal, Senior NHC Hurricane Specialist Lixion Avila clearly shares the concerns that have been put forth by the other senior forecasters Richard Pasch, James Franklin, and Richard Knabb, and former director Max Mayfield. Avila noted, "If I the director of the hurricane center, I would not spend my time fighting for QuikSCAT--I would be fighting to make sure that the reconnaissance planes are always there." That leaves a vacationing Jack Beven as the only senior hurricane forecaster to not comment publicly on the issue. Max Mayfield has refrained from making public comments on the deteriorating situation these past months, but all of his comments in the Miami Herald article lend support for the hurricane forecast staff. Given his previous experience in the position of NHC Director and his successful tenure, his feedback counts tremendously.

With the busiest part of hurricane season just a few weeks away, expect a decision on Bill Proenza's tenure to be made soon.

Jeff Masters and Margie Kieper

Having lost the support of most of his senior forecasters, and having misrepresented the science on the importance of the QuikSCAT satellite on hurricane forecasts, it would be best for Mr. Proenza to step down as director of the National Hurricane Center. --Jeff Masters

[cobalt1999]

8. Great link. I like Jeff Masters blog.

Okay, if Jeff thinks Proenza has misrepresented science and the entire senior staff wants him gone, then he should probably go.

This thing was lining up along political lines and my knee-jerk reaction was to follow suit, but obviously something else is going on here.

As a guy who lives on the coast of Florida, I take NHC news seriously.

[kickysnana]

7. Staff has not fullyy felt the effects of the BFEE yet...

personally or proffesionally, so they think that they are safe as long as they don't make waves. Too late people are realizing you cannot hide from what is happening by sticking your head in the ground.l The fact that Proenza has bucked the admin and has not had his balls handed to him is surprising in itself.

[cobalt1999]

10. I think that's an insult to the folks at the NHC.

These aren't the type of people who would sign a petition to fire their boss in order to feel "safe" from the Bush administration. If anything, you would expect them to line up behind Proenza because he was fighting for more funding in areas that really need it. The fact they weren't meant (IMHO), there were more problems with him than just criticizing the Bush administration.

[ThomWV]

9. There is a giant hole here somewhere - something is obviously missing

Rank and file workers rallying to get rid of their boss because he demands that an outdated tool they are using for which there are no plans for replacement become a high priority on his and his bosses agenda? Rank and file workers who are concerned that the Director, some levels of management above them, is having arguments with his political bosses in Washington and they are siding with the political bosses? No mention of any more normal personnel problems, pay, vacation, overbearing bosses, long hours, poor workplace conditions - absolutely nothing like that. See what I mean, there doesn't seem to be anything of substance that would cause half of the place to rise up against the guy. And by the way, just what sort of power position is 'senior forecaster' anyway? It sounds to me like there are a handful of these folks and they are the top managers in the place and appear somehow to this casual observer to be beholden to the political bosses in Washington. It just doesn't make sense.

[Richard Steele]

11. I agree- the threads I can see do not weave a narrative. Something remains unseen. nm

[cobalt1999]

13. I've read several news reports this morning on this

Again, the only thing I can find is...

"The flashpoint seems to have been a good deal more arcane than that: Evidently, some on the staff think Mr. Proenza grossly exaggerated the importance of a soon-to-die weather-data satellite system called QuikScat as he sought more money for the center in the federal budget, thereby undermining public confidence in its science and perhaps risking cuts to the data-gathering effort the forecasters say is most important, reconnaissance aircraft flights."

[peekaloo]

14. I agree.

I read the story in the paper this a.m. :shrug:

but I did see a remark credited to Proenza that he "served at the pleasure of his bosses in D.C." and was totally thrown. (noting how/who that statement is normally used for/by).

[loudsue]

16. Could it be that those who favor "privatization" are throwing a little $$ around

in the office? Maybe a promise of higher pay if they go "privatized" ??? I don't have a clue (obviously), but I'm just speculating, based on what I know about how the "privatizers" persue their prey.

:kick:

[SteveM]

17. Jeez, if your secretary wants you to leave, that's bad (nt)

[Firespirit]

18. I've followed this

I am at this point not going to accuse the staff of having a political agenda, because there's no evidence for it.

There IS, however, strong evidence for one or two other possibilities: basic human weakness, and professional shortsightedness.

The "rebellion" didn't start to become news until after Commerce bureaucrats from Washington were sent down to Florida. In the wake of the U.S. Attorney scandal, I don't find it at ALL hard to believe that they could have been threatened. These people are scientists. The Bush administration has a track record of threatening scientists. And these people aren't paid that well for what they do.

The other issue that may be at play is the inability of some trained scientists to understand a strategic move. A form of purism, if you will. They see the Director misrepresenting statistics about one particular satellite, and that boils their blood. But I think Proenza understood the necessity of what he was doing. The REAL issue here was the budgeting. NOAA bureaucrats wanted money for post-Katrina P.R. campaigns. The meteorologists wanted money for actual research. But Proenza must have realized that this would be billed in the media (whatever media even COVERED it) as a standard inter-agency budget fight. The QuikScat satellite provided a focus, a rallying point. And there WAS research out there that could be used to support his position.

I saw the director thinking politically and strategically. The forecasters, however, saw him playing fast and loose with data. There's your issue, combined with the possibility of government intimidation.