Trump administration wants to un-fire nuclear safety workers but can't figure out how to reach them
By: Peter Alexander and Alexandra Marquez (NBC News)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Peter Alexander and Alexandra Marquez
WASHINGTON — National Nuclear Security Administration officials on Friday attempted to notify some employees who had been let go the day before that they are now due to be reinstated — but they struggled to find them because they didn't have their new contact information.
In an email sent to employees at NNSA and obtained by NBC News, officials wrote, "The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded, but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel."
The individuals the letter refers to had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts. NNSA, which is within the Department of Energy and oversees the nation's nuclear stockpile, cannot reach these employees directly and is now asking recipients of the email, "Please work with your supervisors to send this information (once you get it) to people's personal contact emails."
The Department of Energy did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
President Donald Trump's administration has acted with unprecedented speed — and in some cases, questionable legality — in seeking to cut large portions of the federal government, laying off staff and ending contracts. But that speed has resulted in complications, including firing people agencies actually want to keep.
The emails come after multiple staff — all civil servants — at the NNSA received termination notices late Thursday, according to a source with direct knowledge of the notifications. NBC News reviewed the termination notification, which included the subject line: "Notification of Termination During Probationary/Trial Period."
The NNSA is tasked with designing, building and overseeing the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.
The termination notices, which read "effective today," came within hours of a Russian drone striking the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine. NNSA tracks nuclear risks in Ukraine, including through sensor systems.
The NNSA saga comes as the Trump administration executed mass firings throughout the federal government this week, primarily slashing the jobs of employees categorized as "probationary."
Some departments saw massive numbers of layoffs, like the Department of Homeland Security, where over 400 people were told that their jobs were cut.
The move comes as President Donald Trump and one of his top advisers, tech mogul Elon Musk, seek to slash the size of the federal government.
The federal cuts have been met with pushback from Democrats, labor unions and progressive organizations. More than 60 lawsuits against the Trump administration alleging executive overreach and other violations are pending.
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It would be funny if it weren't so scary.
Governing via chaos.
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Most incompetent administration in history.
They've worked really hard for the title, too.
Totally.
(I wouldn't be surprised if they were sent to Gitmo!)
They should contact the administrators there to check...
Oh wait-- the administration probably lost that contact info as well!
Every place I’ve ever worked had my home contact information.
I guess this situation is different.
It is indeed.
President elect Musk is in a big hurry to make America....
Make America what, exactly?
They’re so busy carelessly rummaging through databases of personal information, it wouldn’t surprise me if they accidentally deleted the information.
Perhaps but regardless, there is likely much more to this story than what is being reported in this article.
Much more …..
Let's just hope they findthese people...before they accidentally become incarcerated in Gitmo!
Or somewhere...mixed in with other prisoners!!!
Oddly enough, I can't find this story on Fox "News". I wonder why? I mean, it seems like kind of a big deal.
You have to dig through 4 pages before you get the Fox News story on Google.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Department of Energy confirmed with Fox News Digital that fewer than 50 employees were actually dismissed from their positions.
"Less than 50 NNSA employees were dismissed. These staff members were probationary employees and held primarily administrative and clerical roles," the DOE spokesperson said. "The Energy Department will continue its critical mission of protecting our national security and nuclear deterrence in the development, modernization, and stewardship of America's atomic weapons enterprise, including the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nonproliferation."
Trump administration fires nearly 50 nuclear security office employees | Fox News
So Fox buried the story? Of course they did.
Also, from your link:
Vic, do you think chaos among the staff maintaining our nuclear arsenal is a smart way to run things?
Of the other 50, they located 28 and demanded they return to work,
because they weren't clerks like the discredited liberal rag the NYTimes claimed.
Great morale booster../S
I guess the Times is going to start carrying Trump's water and placing as many stories about the Gulf of America as it reasonably can...each one requiring a map.../s
Is this the same story but of a different agency???
USDA accidentally fired officials working on bird flu and is now trying to rehire them
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired "several" agency employees who are working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak .
Good grief. More incompetence.
He'll spin that as trying to bring down the price of eggs. And some will believe him.
No, Google buried it. Conservatives always have to dig on Google.
Vic, do you think chaos among the staff maintaining our nuclear arsenal is a smart way to run things?
What chaos?
You know, "big balls" can be a little quick on the trigger.
I had an easy enough time finding it from every other news outlet on Google.
It's amazing how much effort one must exert in order not to see it. But you do you.
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You failed to read the quote from Vic's link that he didn't cherry-pick.
See 4.1.1
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So, you think "accidentally" firing 325 people, some of whom you then want to return, is not chaotic?
Oh, and that's one department. They similarly fucked up with regard to the Department of Agriculture, as 1st Warrior posted above, and laid off, then rehired, workers from the Department of Health and Human Services, including 950 employees of the Indian Health Service.
Would you have us believe that this is working like a well-oiled machine?
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$ pages-- that's a lot!
(Lets hope Musk fires all those extra people at Google-- makes it a lean, mean search engine company!)
Evidently not. BTW Google frequently puts leftwing media first.
It's amazing how much effort one must exert in order not to see it.
As far as I'm concerned, the chaos an insanity ended in mid-November.
I had an easy time finding the story, Vic. Just not on Fox "News".
Then your definition of "chaos" is very different from the generally accepted one. Redefinition of words based on hyperpartisanship is hardy anything new in your comments.
And if anyone is actually interested in the truth, of a workforce over 2000 less than 50 were fired and they were in clerical roles.
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