DOGE Cuts Affect Top Nuclear Scientists

More than 130 members of the top-secret National Nuclear Security Agency, were either fired as part of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency cuts or resigned as a result of the Trump administration's deferred resignation buyouts, according to The New York Times.

The exodus included nuclear scientists, bomb engineers, and safety experts, over the past six weeks, the Times reported.

The NNSA, which manages the nation's 3,748 nuclear bombs and warheads, is part of the Department of Energy. It was in the process of modernizing the U.S.' arsenal to include a new fleet of nuclear submarines, bomber jets, and land-based missiles.

The purge "is going to make the job more difficult because what you lost were some of your most valuable leaders," Scott Roecker, the vice president of the nuclear materials security program at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit organization, told the Times.

"These were very accomplished, very successful, very well-trained people who were performing complex, niche jobs."

But Ben Dietderich, the Department of Energy's chief spokesman told the news outlet that "contrary to news reports, the Energy Department's nuclear weapons production plants and nuclear laboratories are operated by federal contractors and have been exempt" from cuts.

Added Andrea Woods, a spokeswoman for the Energy Department: "NNSA is committed to continuing its critical national security mission through the development, modernization and stewardship of America's nuclear deterrent and nonproliferation and counterterrorism efforts."

The NNSA has already struggled with understaffing, according to the Times. In a 2022 GAO report, the agency said it faced "tremendous work-force attraction and retention problems."

"We were already understaffed there," Corey Hinderstein, the agency's deputy administrator for nonproliferation under President Joe Biden, told the Times.

"Because how do you get people with extremely advanced security skills to be able to defend a nuclear weapon on the road and are willing to be long-haul truckers?"

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