NOAA chief blames weather service management for financial scandal

Washington Post : In her testimony yesterday before a House appropriations committee, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Jane Lubchenco, reported on an investigation into a financial scandal at the National Weather Service, which her agency oversees. At the heart of the scandal is the practice, dating back to 2006, of NWS diverting millions of dollars from technology development to payroll. Such diversions are not uncommon in federal agencies. Congressional appropriators cannot anticipate all an agency’s expenses. However, agencies are obliged by law to seek Congressional approval for budget changes. Managers at NWS did not seek that approval, an omission that Lubchenco characterized as a “failure of management and oversight.”