May 29, 2012 – The director of the National Weather Service has stepped down after an internal investigation concluded that the federal agency misappropriated millions in taxpayer dollars.
Jack Hayes retired on Friday, a day after the head of the weather service’s parent agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, issued a memo spelling out the results of an investigation into allegations of mismanagement of funds.
This follows on the heels of a separate external investigation into NOAA that says the administration misappropriated $43.8 million by giving bonuses and extensions to contractors without proper justification.
In the weather service inquiry, the memo by NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said investigators found evidence that weather service employees at its headquarters inappropriately “reprogrammed” funds in 2010 and 2011 by moving millions of dollars in program accounts and redirecting them to 122 weather service offices across the country.