As part of cost-cutting measures coordinated by Elon Musk (DOGE), tens of thousands of U.S. federal workers have been laid off or accepted voluntary severance packages in recent days. Among them are hundreds of employees from the NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration), responsible for the control and security of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
According to the Trump administration, on Thursday, hundreds of NNSA employees were informed via email that they had been terminated "with immediate effect," losing instant access to facilities and work accounts. However, on Friday, the Trump administration sent a follow-up email revoking the terminations. The issue? Most of the fired employees had already lost access to their email accounts and could no longer be reached.
A Reuters and NBC report states that 2,000 NNSA workers were laid off, but 325 were classified as "essential workers" and should not have been dismissed. Many of them were responsible for producing nuclear fuel for atomic bombs or performing critical maintenance tasks to ensure the efficiency and safety of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
The report did not specify how many employees have been reinstated, but there are growing concerns that, in the coming days, the U.S. nuclear arsenal may be managed by a significantly reduced workforce.