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Layoffs reversed: The unintended ‘nuclear’ consequences of Elon Musk led-DOGE’s energy department cuts
Elon Musk's DOGE team laid off around 300 energy dept workers, but the Donald Trump administration has reversed these cuts amid concerns that the layoffs could impact national security and the nuclear weapons program.
Elon Musk's DOGE team reportedly fired nearly 300 nuclear weapons workers in indiscriminate job cuts in the US Energy Department, but now the Donald Trump administration is trying to bring them back, according to multiple media reports.
We take a look at the unintended, but likely dangerous, “nuclear” consequences of DOGE's “efficiency” cuts.
DOGE Reversal: Firing of Nuclear Weapons Workers Halted
In a departure from the job cuts ordered by Elon Musk-run DOGE, the Trump administration has reversed the layoffs of hundreds of energy department employees who worked on building nuclear warheads, as per an AP report.
The AP report cited three anonymous US government officials saying that 350 employees at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) were “abruptly laid off” on February 13. Around 30 per cent of these workers were from the Pantex Plant near Amarillo in Texas, where nuclear warheads are reassembled.
Bloomberg cited a source who pegged the number of NNSA workers fired by DOGE between 300-400. The source added the “quick reversal” came as many affected workers “deal with sensitive national security secrets”.
By February 14 night, Teresa Robbins, Acting Director of the NNSA issued a memo reversing the firing of 322 “fired” workers, as per the report. Only 28 remained on the cut list. The memo, seen by AP, declared: “This letter serves as formal notification that the termination decision issued to you on February 13, 2025 has been rescinded, effective immediately.”
Notably, while sources told AP 350 were fired and 322 soon brought back, an official statement from the Department of Energy told AP and Reuters that “fewer than 50 probationary employees with primarily administrative and clerical roles” of the NNSA were “let go”.
Warning, Call to Action from Senior NNSA Staffer
The AP report noted that deputy division director Rob Plonski, a senior NNSA staffer, took to LinkedIn to post a warning and call to action amid the chaos.
“This is a pivotal moment. We must decide whether we are truly committed to leading on the world stage or if we are content with undermining the very systems that secure our nation’s future. Cutting the federal workforce responsible for these functions may be seen as reckless at best and adversarily opportunistic at worst,” Plonksi wrote.
Notably, even if the affected workers don't work on the weapons, many tasks handled by them include nuclear issues, such as managing massive radioactive waste sites and ensuring the material there doesn't further contaminate nearby communities. For example, the Savannah River National Laboratory in Jackson, South Carolina; the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington state (the site previously produced plutonium for the atomic bomb); and the Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee (contamination site associated with the Manhattan Project); among others.
'Absolutely No Knowledge of What These Depts Are Responsible For...'
Experts, meanwhile, have cautioned that DOGE's “blind cost-cutting” could put communities at risk as the majority of these 350 jobs involved high-level security clearances and sensitive tasks. The 350 NNSA workers cut were among the 2,000 Energy Department employees culled by DOGE that week, the AP report added.
The US Department of Energy employs around 14,000 staff and 95,000 contractors, as per a Reuters report.
Speaking to AP, Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, blasted the DOGE team for “coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for”, telling AP: “They don’t seem to realise that it’s actually the department of nuclear weapons more than it is the Department of Energy.”
US Representative Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and US Senator Patty Murray of Washington, both Democrats, called the firings “utterly callous and dangerous", AP reported.
Edwin Lyman, director of nuclear power safety at the Union of Concerned Scientists, told AP the firings could “disrupt day-to-day workings” and “create a sense of instability over the nuclear program” in the US and abroad. “I think the signal to US adversaries is pretty clear: throw a monkey wrench in the whole national security apparatus and cause disarray. That can only benefit the adversaries of this country,” Lyman said.
Loss of Institutional Knowledge? Morale Hurt?
AP said it could not reach all fired and reinstated workers, but some were “reconsidering whether to return to work” due to the uncertainty imposed by DOGE.
The US nuclear program mainly comprises federal employees who have spent their entire careers there and are already suffering the loss of institutional knowledge due to a string of retirements; the AP report pointed out. Amid the nuclear weapons modernisation programme, by 2023, its workforce was comprised of at least 60 per cent of employees with five or fewer years of experience, it said.
Jill Hruby, who served as the NNSA administrator during the Biden administration, told Bloomberg the job cuts are “especially concerning because these posts require high-level security clearances and training that can take 18 months or longer.”
“These people are likely never going to come back and work for the government. We’ve had a very active program requiring an increase to our staff so the indiscriminate layoffs of people will be really difficult for the coming years,” Hruby added.
Steven Nadel, executive director of the non-profit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, told Bloomberg, “This program helps bring competitive manufacturing back to American shores, so weakening it is only going to help foreign competitors.”
Energy Dept Staff Keep DOGE at Bay from ‘Nuclear Secrets’
Earlier on February 8, Bloomberg also reported that Energy Department staff have been careful in what "nuclear secrets" access is granted to Elon Musk's DOGE. The report cited sources saying that some employees cancelled meetings on learning that DOGE members were present in the office and were warned that they could be monitoring internal emails and chats.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said DOGE members were given access to agency data, but downplayed concerns about their ability to view employees’ proprietary data and nuclear weapons information. “They’re part of a team assembled by DOGE friends in Elon’s broader circle that are very good at IT and very good at systems. And they’re just doing a critical evaluation of how do we do things today, and come up with some ideas about maybe how we can do things better,” Wright said.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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First Published:17 Feb 2025, 01:46 PM IST
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