The Trump administration has reversed course on a wave of firings at the Department of Energy, after dismissing hundreds of employees responsible for overseeing the United States' nuclear weapons stockpile. The abrupt terminations, which included personnel from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), were quickly rescinded when officials realized the critical nature of their work.
Hundreds of NNSA employees were let go late last week as part of a broader initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with reducing federal workforce redundancies. However, the firings triggered immediate backlash from nuclear security experts and lawmakers, who warned that the cuts endangered national security.
"The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. "They don't seem to realize that it's actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy."
By Friday night, the agency's acting director, Teresa Robbins, issued a memo rescinding the termination orders for all but 28 of the employees. "This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on Feb. 13, 2025, has been rescinded, effective immediately," the memo stated.
The confusion over the firings underscored what critics say is a rushed and uninformed approach to government reorganization under DOGE. Some officials were reportedly locked out of their offices before they had even been informed of their dismissal, and once the administration sought to reinstate them, they struggled to contact the affected employees because their work email accounts had been disabled.
NNSA oversees the maintenance, modernization, and security of the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Among the hardest-hit locations was the Pantex Plant in Texas, where nearly 30% of the workforce was dismissed before being asked to return. Pantex is responsible for assembling and disassembling nuclear warheads, one of the most sensitive operations within the nuclear enterprise.
The firings were part of a larger DOGE-led reduction of approximately 2,000 Energy Department employees. The official explanation from the department characterized the terminations as targeting "probationary employees" in "primarily administrative and clerical roles." However, multiple officials familiar with the matter said many of those let go had direct responsibilities related to nuclear security, waste management, and radioactive cleanup.
"Cutting the federal workforce responsible for these functions may be seen as reckless at best and adversarily opportunistic at worst," said Rob Plonski, a senior official at NNSA, in a LinkedIn post.
Beyond nuclear weapons management, several affected sites included the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington, the Savannah River National Laboratory in South Carolina, and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. These locations house hazardous nuclear waste and require ongoing security measures to prevent contamination or potential theft of radioactive materials.
Sen. Patty Murray (D., Wash.) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio), top Democrats on the Energy and Water Appropriations Committees, condemned the firings as "utterly callous and dangerous." In a joint statement, they called for an immediate briefing from Energy Secretary Chris Wright, writing, "The efforts to fire employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration are shocking."
"Until such time as we are briefed on these developments, we will not know the damage to our country and the world as a result of these haphazard and thoughtless firings," they added.
The administration's attempts to reinstate employees have been complicated by skepticism among those affected. Some fired workers have expressed reluctance to return, citing concerns about job security and the administration's commitment to maintaining the expertise necessary for nuclear oversight.
NNSA has been in the midst of a $750 billion nuclear modernization effort, which includes the development of new intercontinental ballistic missiles, stealth bombers, and submarine-launched warheads. In recent years, the agency aggressively hired new personnel to compensate for a wave of retirements, with more than 60% of the workforce having been employed for less than five years.
Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, warned that the firings and subsequent reinstatements could send a message of instability to U.S. allies and adversaries. "I think the signal to U.S. adversaries is pretty clear: throw a monkey wrench in the whole national security apparatus and cause disarray," he said. "That can only benefit the adversaries of this country."
