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The Trump administration’s rapid-fire approach to slashing federal jobs has led to unexpected turmoil within the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), as officials now scramble to reinstate employees they mistakenly fired just a day earlier.
On Friday, NNSA officials attempted to notify some of the terminated employees that their dismissal letters had been rescinded. However, the agency quickly ran into a major problem: they could not reach the affected workers.
“The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel,” officials admitted in an internal email obtained by NBC News. The email urged current employees to relay messages to their former colleagues using personal contact information.
The confusion underscores the growing fallout from the Trump administration’s aggressive efforts to downsize the federal workforce. President Donald Trump, alongside top adviser Elon Musk, has championed mass layoffs as part of a broader push to “streamline” the government. However, the rapid pace of firings has resulted in severe logistical failures—including the dismissal of employees critical to national security.
The NNSA, an agency within the Department of Energy, is responsible for managing the U.S. nuclear stockpile. The abrupt termination notices—sent late Thursday—came just hours after a Russian drone strike on Ukraine’s Chernobyl power plant, a region closely monitored by NNSA’s nuclear risk tracking systems.
Sources familiar with the situation revealed that multiple civil servants within the agency received sudden termination emails with the subject line: “Notification of Termination During Probationary/Trial Period.” The notices stated that their employment was “effective today,” instantly cutting them off from government email systems—making later efforts to reinstate them even more difficult.
The Department of Energy has not yet commented on the situation, but the mishandling of the terminations has sparked serious concerns about national security implications.
Beyond the NNSA, the mass layoffs have affected several government agencies, with the Department of Homeland Security alone seeing over 400 employees lose their jobs. The administration’s moves have drawn legal and political backlash, with over 60 lawsuits challenging the cuts currently pending in federal courts.
Critics argue that the firings reflect a reckless approach to governance. “This isn’t efficiency—it’s chaos,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD). “Firing employees crucial to our national security and then scrambling to bring them back the next day is a disgraceful level of incompetence.”
Meanwhile, labor unions and progressive organizations are mobilizing against what they call a politically motivated purge of the civil service. “This administration is trying to dismantle the government by any means necessary,” said Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees. “But they’re doing it so recklessly that even they can’t keep track of who they’ve fired.”
As lawsuits pile up and confusion reigns, the NNSA debacle raises serious questions about the Trump administration’s ability to carry out its sweeping government overhaul without undermining national security in the process.
