Cnn
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Trump administration officials rushed throughout the weekend in the middle of a flood of criticism to recover the employees they dismissed Thursday evening at the National Nuclear Security Administration, four familiar people with the layoffs – and their benefits – at CNN.
More than 300 employees were initially dismissed on the agency responsible for managing American nuclear weapons. All NNSA staff, except approximately, have since been reintegrated, have told CNN, two current NNSA employees knowing the issue. We don’t know how many people will return to work on Tuesday.
The layoffs have created days of chaos inside the agency. On Friday, officials made a return to the layoffs after several members of the Congress asked Energy SEC. Chris Wright to reverse the course, explaining the disastrous implications for national security.
Some of the initially dismissed employees included NNSA staff who work in facilities where nuclear weapons are built, supervise entrepreneurs who build nuclear weapons and who are responsible for the inspection of these weapons.
Many affected employees have a “Q” security authorization within the energy department, which means that they have access to design and nuclear weapons systems. It also included employees of the NNSA headquarters who write requirements and directives for entrepreneurs who build nuclear weapons.
The agency’s human resources department was not involved in layoffs, which was a very unusual aspect of layoffs, according to layoffs. This decision left managers to find the personal contact details of the employees dismissed to tell them that their work was safe – a huge logistical obstacle and an obstacle to the staff given the email and the phones issued by the government.
“This is not normal,” an employee of the NNSA familiar with dismissals told CNN. “It was ridiculous, unprecedented and sloppy. There is no formal process. »»
An NNSA employee who was dismissed Thursday and restored a day later confirmed that HR were not involved. The employee told CNN that he had lost his access to his emails and the government staff files on Thursday evening, even before they told them that they were dismissed.
“I did not think that I would be dismissed before it happens,” said the employee, adding that the workforce of the NNSA initially thought that they would be exempt from executive decrees and memos focusing on reduction the overall number of federal workers.
These memos “all had a national security exemption, and we surely thought that the NNSA with national security on behalf would be exempt,” said the employee.
The layoffs executed before a long weekend of vacation also “thwarted” the notification process of the people they have been reinstated and to bring them back into the system, said a person familiar with the incident to CNN.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Energy did not answer CNN questions about the number of NNSA staff informed that they would be reinstated, or if the achievement of these former employees is difficult. Friday, a spokesperson for the energy department challenged that more than 300 employees had been affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from the NNSA and that the members of the licensed staff “held mainly administrative and office roles ”.
NNSA managers received a list of licensed employees who were to be recalled after 6 p.m. Friday, said one person, and NNSA officials worked on weekends to contact dismissed employees.
The emails were sent to personal addresses with a memo that was read: “This letter serves as an official notification according to which the termination decision published on February 13, 2025 was immediately canceled. Consequently, your job with the NNSA remains active and you must resume your functions as affected. »»
The dismissal of so many essential employees for American national security and global nuclear security shows how the administration quickly executes its quest to reduce the size of the federal government without understanding the full impact of its actions.
Although there is no immediate evidence that the global mission of the NNSA was compromised due to the layoffs of the administration, some within the agency think that there will be long -term consequences.
“The main impact was a success for morale and the confidence of employees who have been dismissed,” said a source.
Some may return to work, but the lack of employment stability under an administration which said that its objective was to reduce the federal workforce could encourage some to start looking for new jobs in the private sector, A indicated the source.
“These people who have been recalled, it means that it means if we are going in a kind of reduction in force?” said the source. “Will they then be tapped?”
Most important fears are to play: some in the agency are worried about future incursions by the Doges of Elon Musk in the very classified work of the NNSA.
“What should I do if someone who doesn’t need to know comes and says:” I need to see this dossier on Ukraine or the design of the angarreille? “” An NNSA employee posed. “The idea of putting sensitive or classified data compared to the loss of your job? People are deeply alarmed and do not feel that the answers given to them are sufficient. »»
Others are afraid of reprisals of the administration and the nominees of the agency, fearing that they were targeted for having embarrassed the president “avenger”, “said another source.
The plan on the level of the government of the Trump administration to reclassify certain positions of non -political employees, because the posts appointed presidential would be particularly concerning an agency such as the NNSA, where nuclear security and security have been traditionally made without interference , according to a source of energy source, according to a ministry of the source of energy.
The NNSA is heavy with non -political employees to ensure stability and continuity between administrations because it manages the nuclear stock. And if the highest high level level is replaced by politicians, international partners would likely see the lack of continuity of the administration in the administration as a sign of instability, a source told CNN.
“The world would probably not feel as if it is being able to depend that the United States is a stable nuclear nation,” said the person, adding that if the United States lost one of its influence in the involuntary consequences. »»