Trump Fires All US Nuclear Weapons Officials Because He Didn't Understand What They Were Doing

Trump administration officials on Feb. 13 fired more than 300 employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the agency responsible for managing the nation's nuclear arsenal, the agency said. CNN. The next day, the administration came to its senses and began to hastily reinstate the dismissed people. But, as he writes NBC News, it turned out that it was no longer possible to contact many of them.

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President Donald Trump’s administration has moved with unprecedented speed (and in some cases questionable legality) in its push to shrink much of the federal government by laying off workers and terminating contracts. But the rush has led to complications, including the firing of people agencies actually wanted to keep.

Officials appeared unaware that the NNSA oversees U.S. nuclear weapons.

A Department of Energy spokesman disputed the reported number of layoffs, saying fewer than 50 people were "terminated" and that the laid-off employees were "primarily in administrative positions."

On the morning of February 14, NNSA began rescinding layoffs.

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"Nobody bothered to figure out what was going on.we are engaged in"

Among those laid off were National Nuclear Security Administration employees who were on the ground at nuclear weapons facilities, supervising contractors who made them and inspecting the weapons.

The layoffs also affected employees at NNSA's central office, which develops requirements and guidelines for contractors building nuclear weapons. "Nobody bothered to understand what we were doing and how important our work was to national security," one source said.

Members of Congress have expressed concern about the layoffs. One person familiar with the matter said senators have personally met with Energy Secretary Chris Wright to express concerns about the NNSA cuts.

“There is panic in Congress because the Department of Energy does not seem to realize that the National Nuclear Security Administration controls the nuclear arsenal,” one of the sources said. “Nuclear deterrence is the foundation of American security and stability. Any gaps in its maintenance, however small, should be a serious concern.”

The NNSA has a total of 1800 employees at facilities across the country. The only ones not affected by the Feb. 13 layoffs were those in the Office of Secure Transportation, the division responsible for transporting nuclear weapons around the country.

On the morning of February 14, the agency changed its position. At a meeting, acting National Nuclear Security Administration Administrator Teresa Robbins said the NNSA had been directed to reverse the firing of employees on probation. Probationary periods typically last less than a year, and in some cases up to two years, and such employees have fewer rights and opportunities to appeal their termination.

Robbins said that if the probationary NNSA employees have not already been fired, their jobs are now secure and access to NNSA's internal IT systems will be restored for all fired employees.

According to Robbins, "there is a high probability that most or even all of the terminated employees who were on probation will be able to return."

Another source warned that the situation remained extremely fluid, saying: "We don't know how many people will be able to return."

A spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration referred CNN's questions to the Energy Department.

"The Department of Energy will continue its critical mission to protect our national security and nuclear deterrence and to develop, modernize, and ensure the reliability of America's nuclear weapons complex, including the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nonproliferation measures," a department spokesperson told CNN.

It is impossible to contact some of those laid off

Political officials at the Energy Department instructed non-political human resources staff to cite poor performance in documents as justification for firing employees, the source said. Frustrated by the pressure from political appointees, two human resources staffers resigned on Feb. 14.

Officials at the National Nuclear Security Administration tried on Feb. 14 to notify some of the employees who had been fired the day before that they were being reinstated, but they ran into difficulty because they did not have up-to-date contact information.

In an email sent to National Nuclear Security Administration employees, officials wrote: "Some employees on probation are having their termination letters rescinded, but we have no reliable way to contact them."

The employees in question were fired on Feb. 13 and lost access to their official government email accounts. NNSA, which is part of the Department of Energy and oversees the nation’s nuclear arsenal, has been unable to contact the employees directly and is now asking in writing: “Please contact your supervisors to forward this information (as soon as you receive it) to these individuals’ personal email addresses.”

The situation at the National Nuclear Security Administration comes amid the Trump administration's massive layoffs this week across the federal system, mostly affecting employees on "probationary" status.

Some departments have seen particularly large cuts, with the Department of Homeland Security laying off more than 400 people.

One of the NNSA employees fired on Feb. 13, a nuclear safety specialist, was fired because she had been on probation for two years. She told NBC News that she still does not have access to her email, but that her boss called her and said "the layoff is off" and that she should return to work on Tuesday.

"To be honest, I'll still keep looking for another job," she said. "I'll come back, but as soon as I find another place, I'll leave."

When asked why she would continue looking for a job, the employee replied that she “doesn’t believe she can keep her job.”

The layoffs come as Trump and one of his top advisers, tech mogul Elon Musk, push for radically smaller federal government.

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The federal cuts have drawn intense opposition from Democrats, labor unions and progressive groups, and the Trump administration is currently facing more than 60 lawsuits alleging abuses of power and other abuses.

Another telling detail: The dismissal notices, which said they were “effective today,” were sent just hours after a Russian drone struck the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. The NNSA monitors nuclear risks in Ukraine, including through a system of sensors.

In addition to managing U.S. nuclear weapons, NNSA is responsible for ensuring the security of nuclear materials throughout the country.

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