Probationary Staffing Cuts & Rehires at National Nuclear Security Administration

On February 13, 2025, as part of the Trump administration's purge of probationary federal employees, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) within the Department of Energy (DOE) fired about 300 employees. The NNSA is responsible for overseeing the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal. After members of Congress warned of the national security implications, the acting NNSA administrator issued a memo the following day rescinding the terminations of all but roughly two dozen employees. Because the agency had cut off the fired employees' access to their official email accounts, NNSA reportedly had difficulty contacting them, and not all returned to work. In response to a congressional inquiry, DOE stated that 177 employees had been terminated and 150 immediately rehired — figures the senators contrasted with press reports in a follow-up letter questioning the department's transparency. An analysis by the New York Times revealed that most of the employees who left NNSA were experts in fields related to the agency's mission-related work. Many of them had access to information about the design, production and use of nuclear weapons.