You may think we have too many nuclear weapons. Or you may think we don’t have enough. One thing you most certainly do not think, however, is that we should arbitrarily fire the people who keep these weapons safe and secure. But that is exactly what happened last week when the Trump administration suddenly fired 300 of the 1,800 people working at the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) in Washington, D.C.
Emails went out at 3 p.m. on Thursday announcing immediate firings. Without warning, dozens of people were told to step away from their computers and physically escorted out of the building, their digital access to the agency blocked and all connections to their work wiped away.
Many of those fired are part of the management team overseeing tens of thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians who build, maintain and guard the U.S. arsenal of some 5,000 nuclear weapons.
All of the people fired were probationary employees, meaning they had worked in their jobs for only one to two years. This included some fresh out of graduate school, as well as experienced officials switching to new assignments. Since they have fewer rights than permanent employees, they were apparently seen by Elon Musk and his shadowy “Department of Government Efficiency” or DOGE, which conducted the mass firings, as easy targets in their effort to decimate the federal government workforce.
The firings were part of hundreds of termination notices sent to workers at the Department of Energy, the parent organization of the nuclear agency. It appears that DOGE made the decision based purely on their status, without knowing what the workers actually did.
NNSA has two primary missions. Many of those fired are part of the management team overseeing tens of thousands of highly skilled scientists, engineers and technicians who build, maintain and guard the U.S. arsenal of some 5,000 nuclear weapons. Other fired officials work on NNSA’s other, equally vital mission of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and materials.
These threat reduction programs began when the collapse of the Soviet Union triggered fears of “loose nukes” in the hands of terrorists and outlaw nations. The programs took on new urgency after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 raised the specter of nuclear terrorism. They include everything from radiation detectors that help prevent nuclear smuggling to export controls that block, for example, Iran from getting technologies it could use to build a nuclear bomb.
Outcries from experts, officials and members of Congress about the risks to national security forced Trump officials to reverse course. They announced last Friday that they now want to rehire the workers. The problem is that they don’t know how to reach them.
NBC News obtained a memo sent to NNSA employees that reads, in part: “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.” With the former employees locked out of their email accounts, Trump officials are now struggling to track down personal phone numbers. But even when reached, the workers are less than enthusiastic about returning.
“I will be honest, I intend to keep looking for work,” one employee told NBC News. “I will go back, but as soon as I find another role, I’ll be leaving.” Asked why she will still look for employment elsewhere, she said that she has “no faith I will keep my job.”
The chaos and confusion is likely to continue in the coming weeks. There are indications that Musk and President Donald Trump will soon issue sweeping Reduction in Force orders that could fire tens of thousands of federal workers, including those in vital nuclear security positions.
The chaos may be the point. Trump wants to demoralize the federal workforce, to weaken resistance to the executive orders pouring out of the Oval Office and pave the way for massive layoffs. “The organizing idea behind what they’re doing is that Trump wants to be king,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said. “He doesn’t want to be accountable to the law, and the American people are getting hurt.”
Trump wants to demoralize the federal workforce, to weaken resistance to the executive orders pouring out of the Oval Office and pave the way for massive layoffs.
Chaos and nuclear weapons are not a good mix. There are certainly savings to be found in the massive nuclear weapons complex, still sized to support a Cold War-sized arsenal even though the current number of U.S. weapons is one-sixth the amount of the 1980s. However, abruptly firing employees without cause and without a coherent plan is a recipe for disaster, not savings.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., blasted the move, condemning the firing of nuclear workers and those in other vital government positions. “There is nothing ‘efficient’ about indiscriminately firing thousands upon thousands of workers in red and blue states whose work is badly needed,” she said. “Two billionaires who have zero concept of what the federal workforce does are breaking the American government — decimating essential services and leaving all of us worse off.” NNSA requires a set of skills that are difficult to find. It takes years to train the managers, engineers and technicians involved in the nuclear programs. Treating them with contempt and calculated cruelty is not the way to retain their loyalty. Many could make much higher salaries in private companies but see their work on controlling nuclear weapons as a noble goal worth some personal sacrifice. Senior officials in the previous administration warned of problems retaining this professional workforce because of the long hours and competition from the private sector. Instead of incentivizing their retention, Musk and Trump are discouraging current and future generations from government work. The loss of experience, talent and knowledge will cause enormous harm to U.S. national security that could take decades to repair. The danger is not over. Although embarrassed officials had to walk back the immediate firings, it is not at all clear if the returning officials will report back to their same positions and responsibilities. Nor is there any indication that Musk’s agents understand the nature of the programs they are gutting. This may be particularly true of programs that fund nuclear security efforts abroad. Musk and Trump’s “America First” vision may well see funding border guards or nuclear safeguards in other nations as handouts to foreigners, particularly those programs operating in the Global South. “They have no understanding as to why this is important,” one former NNSA official told me. “They will see trips to Indonesia for a nuclear security seminar as a vacation and not at all vital for U.S. national security. They will pick out a line item in a program and use it to mock the entire effort. ‘Why should we pay for African border guards?’ they’ll say. Their view is that we can just close U.S. borders and go it alone. But that is not possible if you truly want to stop the spread of materials that can be used in a nuclear or radiological bomb.” Last week, Trump said, “There’s no reason for us to be building brand new nuclear weapons, we already have so many.” There are plenty of programs he could cut to achieve that goal, including NNSA’s plan to build thousands of new “plutonium pits,” the cores of the new weapons Trump says we don’t need. DOGE’s ham-fisted methods are no way to go about it. If Trump doesn’t want a nuclear 9/11 on his watch, he might want to pay a little more attention to the NNSA programs working to prevent it and call off Musk’s nuclear attack dogs.
Joseph Cirincione
Joseph Cirincione is the vice chair of the Center for International Policy Board of Directors. 
