1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

I would love to know why the Department of Defense is no longer sharing Near Earth Satellite Data with NOAA, ESPECIALLY the Special Sensor Microwave Imager Sounder information, *IN THE MIDDLE OF HURRICANE SEASON*. Who is it in the DOD that does not have the common knowledge that *hurricanes* and the flooding caused by *STORM SURGE FROM HURRICANES* is a HUGE threat to our national security, more specifically to our largest naval base, THE largest naval base in the WORLD, in Norfolk, VA. Every resident, every citizen, every military member, and every veteran who lives in Hampton Roads (as well as all along BOTH coasts) is in great danger from the damages hurricanes cause. Not being able to tell if there is a sudden increase in intensity of one of these storms is going to get people killed, as well as causing millions or potentially billions of dollars in damage to equipment and infrastructure our military relies on. If our local governments in Hampton Roads can do nothing to protect the roads, buildings, and people who support our military before they get on base in the morning, this is a national security issue. (Same for all the other military bases in this area.) Are we no longer going to take the safety and security of our military members, equipment, and people who support them into account? Is all the talk about the importance of national security suddenly out the window when it comes to maintaining important systems, those that don’t simply hand government money over to defense contractors and weapons manufacturers? This whole situation needs to be rethought, and the key weather information from those satellites needs to be properly dispersed to those at NOAA predicting the weather, so that proper calls can be made for the safety of costal citizens ALL YEAR ROUND. Why would we *ever* accept forecasting hurricanes like we did over 40 yrs ago, when we have the technology to do better? All representatives need to be *shouting from the rooftops* about this asinine decision, not just those who represent us in Hampton Roads, preferably before the first landfall of the season. We all know what happened when Hurricane Helene decimated Appalachia last year. We may never have a true count of those lost in that disaster. Right now we are setting up for that same disaster, but for our world’s largest naval base. We have all seen the hurricanes last year that went from Tropical Storms to Cat 5’s in only a few hours. We cannot afford the death, destruction, and damage this ridiculous decision will cause when that happens again, and the citizens on our coasts have no warning. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter, and I look forward to hearing the ACTIONABLE STEPS you and your office will be taking to restore this critical informational resource to the professionals at NOAA.