US President Donald Trump's officials have fired hundreds of important nuclear staffers, sparking concerns among members of Congress.
CNN reported that the administration officials fired more than 300 staffers of the National Nuclear Security Administration tasked to manage the nation’s nuclear stockpile on Thursday night, February 13, 2025.
CNN sources said that the officials have fired the staff as part of broader Energy Department layoffs without knowing that they oversee US nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, the Energy Department spokesperson claimed that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.”
As per the report, the recent move of the government raised concerns among members of Congress, and the senator visited Energy Sec. Chris Wright to express their concerns over NNSA firings.
One of the sources said, “Congress is freaking out because it appears DOE didn’t really realise NNSA oversees the nuclear stockpile. The nuclear deterrent is the backbone of American security and stability—period. For there to be any even very small holes poked even in the maintenance of that deterrent should be extremely frightening to people.”
Notably, NNSA has a total of 1800 staff at facilities all across the United States.
Furthermore, acting NNSA administrator Teresa Robbins on Friday, February 14, 2025, claimed that they were told to cancel the termination of probationary employees, people employed for less than a year or two years.
