Protesters flock to Boulder NOAA amid rumors of DOGE employees inside

Photos by Don Davis

A crowd of protesters gathered outside the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s offices, or NOAA, in Boulder early yesterday morning, after word spread that employees from the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, were on-site.

The calls to action came from the Democratic Women of Boulder County around 10:30 a.m., who sounded alarms that DOGE was inside of NOAA.

They urged community members to show up as soon as they could to support scientists and their work. Specifically, the Democratic Women of BoCo said, “We have reports that DOGE is planning to make cuts at NIST and NOAA in Boulder and may be entering those buildings as soon as April 21st to possibly remove people and potentially install spyware. Our scientists and the critical science they produce are threatened.”

So, at least 100 or so folks gathered on both sides of Broadway and Rayleigh less than an hour after word started to spread – including KGNU’s Don Davis.

But, it turns out DOGE wasn’t there after all. Sergeant Shepherd with the Boulder Police sergeant disputed the rumors, in a conversation with Davis.

Boulder Reporting Lab says that while the rumors were unfounded, the speed and scale of the response from the community reflects anxieties surrounding massive budget cuts to NOAA.

According to a leaked White House document the Trump administration is seeking to eliminate NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, which employs more than 400 people in Boulder. The proposal would also cut funding for NOAA’s cooperative institutes, including a key research partner housed at CU Boulder.

This is on top of the mass firing of hundreds of NOAA employees were fired in late February, as part of the Elon Musk-led initiative to make mass cuts to the federal workforce.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser also came to the scene, as well as former U.S. Rep David Skaggs, for whom the building protestors gathered outside of is named. He’s a former representative for Colorado’s 2nd Congressional District. He told Boulder Reporting Lab that it’s a “good sign that so many citizens are ready to take to the streets” in resistance.