The NY Times investigation uncovers how Musk’s aggressive DOGE purge has decimated the workforce of a top-secret nuclear agency. Mass buyouts and abrupt firings have left critical experts sidelined, prompting national security concerns and fears over the agency’s ability to sustain essential defense operations. Officials demand swift remedial action urgently.
The New York Times has revealed, via an extensive investigation, how severely a top-secret nuclear agency has been cut by the Trump administration and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
According to government data reviewed by the Times, over 130 employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration accepted the buyout offer. The federal workforce has been hit hard by the wave of mass firings, which has taken another 27 lives.
Someone from the nuclear weapons plant’s safety standards team, someone from the nuclear submarine reactor construction team, and someone who dealt with the shipping of radioactive materials are all on that list.
The agency has lost a large group of professionals in as little as six weeks, including scientists, engineers, safety experts, accountants, attorneys, and project officers. This has happened when the agency is undertaking its most ambitious initiatives in a generation, according to the Times.
The agency usually remains out of the public eye because it is involved in highly classified activities and is located within the Energy Department. Nevertheless, it has become a prominent illustration of how the budget cuts implemented by the Trump administration—which were supposedly meant to address government waste and corruption—are endangering essential operations related to national security and other core federal missions, as reported by the New York Times.
In addition to lawyers, compliance officers, and technologists, the laid-off workforce includes over 27 engineers, 13 project analysts, 12 program or project managers, 6 accountants, 5 scientists, and physicists, The Raw Story shares
Many of the agency’s inspectors have lost their jobs due to budget cuts, even though contractors handle most of the work for the agency.
A previous agency deputy administrator for nonproliferation, Corey Hinderstein, emphasized the critical importance of government monitoring.
“Do you have any construction projects at your house? You wouldn’t just say to the contractor: ‘I want something like this room. Have fun.’”
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