Trump’s discounts kill a small office that keeps the world’s accurate measurements

Brett Hao, the former head of the NGS, says, who chose to retire at the end of April. Despite the dedicated employees, Hao says that the loss of many in the high leadership with contracts of experience and institutional knowledge means that the agency cannot pass any other discounts.

He says: “If we get hired some people, we still have a problem in meeting this schedule for 2025 and 2026 (for operation), but we will be able to make it work.” “If there are other discounts, or we are not able to implement the update plan (our national spatial reference system), then we reach a year, for a year and a half from now, and we lose more people – either by laying off other workers or only retired – I think we are in a real problem. Then I wonder how to work as an agency.”

“At this time, the continuous NSRS update plans are still in line with the dates in the Federal Register notification,” said Gillespie Wire. “NGS will issue constituent data and support products and comments in 2025.”

The fate of NGS under Trump’s management is unclear. The proposal of the NOAA budget submitted by the White House management and budget office sent to the agency in April reduces the NGS national ocean service budget, in more than half. The 2025 NGS project does not mention the name, but it imposes the transfer of the survey capabilities in NOAA to other agencies.

“We do not speculate on things that may happen or do not happen in the future,” said Gilsby when asked about the possible changes in the agency. “NOAA will continue to provide weather information, expectations and warnings, and conduct research according to our public safety mission.”

The sharp decrease in NGS employee numbers is the end of the tail for a long decline in geodesic practice in the United States. In 2022, a group of geodican experts composed a paper On what they dubbed the “Geodis crisis” of the United States, in detail how other global powers have invested in training Geodisians over the past three decades, while the United States has finished financing and training. China has been in particular invested in the creation of more geodicists: the country graduated between 9000 and 12,500 geodesic students per year, many of whom are employed by the government. In contrast, about 20 students graduation In advanced degrees in Geodes of American universities over the past decade.

The authors argue that this has contributed to the speed of China to quickly overcome the United States in spatial geographical technologies and specializations of all kinds. There is no more clear place than the satellite navigation system in China, Beidou, which was Getting GPS system in the United States in accuracy. In 2023, the US Government Consultative Council on the GPS (GPS) I mentioned in a note GPS is now “largely lower” to Beidou.

Like other discounts in the general sciences that were made within the Trump administration, the losses from strikes to this agency may be large. 2012 analysis I found that every dollar of taxpayer spends on the NGS coastal maps program had returned 35 dollars in the benefits, while 2019 a report I found that the NGS program, which cultivates the gravitational fields, will save between 4.2 and 13.3 billion dollars of benefits for 10 years. The private sector also relies heavily on the general data provided by NGS. Some of the legitimate analyzes to which the geological economy will grow 1 trillion dollars by the end of the contract. Experts say it is very important to have an updated spatial reference system in the United States, as well as institutional knowledge of the basic science of how to measure and understand the land.

Doyle says, many industries “now want to put high accuracy” that come with advanced spatial geographical technology, “however, they do not understand the basics of science. Now you have all these people who pierce buttons and get numbers, and understand a small percentage of them who really understand what numbers mean, and how a set of numbers is associated with the other.”