--- title: "Government Fires Specialists Without Realizing They Were in Charge of Nuclear Bombs, Then Panics and Tries to Rehire Them" description: "After an ill-conceived round of federal layoffs, the government is scrambling to hire back hundreds of nuclear weapons experts." date: "2025-02-15" modified: "2025-02-15" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/government-fires-nuclear-specialists-hires-back" categories: - "Energy" - "Nuclear Fusion" - "Renewable Energy" - "Science & Energy" tags: - "doge" - "energy" - "nuclear arsenal" --- # Government Fires Specialists Without Realizing They Were in Charge of Nuclear Bombs, Then Panics and Tries to Rehire Them ![After an ill-conceived round of federal layoffs, the government is scrambling to hire back hundreds of nuclear weapons experts.]() *\Image: Anton Petrus / Getty Images\* ## Paging Dr. Strangelove We've all made mistakes before. Maybe we did something in the heat of the moment, or said something we couldn't take back. Point is, it happens, and that's okay — because however bad our mistakes were, at least they didn't risk spelling doom for the entire human race. Elon Musk, the richest man in the history of currency, is in the news yet again — is he ever *not* now? — for spearheading a massive round of [government layoffs](). This wave, carried out over Thursday and Friday, targeted recent hires across the CDC, Small Business Administration, Homeland Security, Veteran's Affairs, Department of Education, and crucially, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The NNSA is a little-known group charged with building, designing, and organizing the [US Nuclear arsenal]() — at one time the largest in the world, now said to be a [close second]() to Russia. It's the kind of agency you hope *not* to read about in the news. The whole "nuclear" part evidently wasn't enough to deter Musk and his [DOGE boys]() from sending between 300 and 400 nuclear arms personnel [to the bread line]() in a confusing flurry of termination emails on Wednesday. As reported by multiple outlets [in the wake of the firings](), it turned out that the officials overseeing the dismissals didn't understand that the sacked workers were responsible for overseeing nuclear weapons — leading them to turn around and beg some of the now-fired workers to come back. But that's turning out to be a difficult task for Musk's hatchet men, sources familiar with the matter [tell *NBC* *News*](), because the now-former staffers can't access their government email addresses anymore. Hindsight is 20-20, it seems. It'd be one thing if DOGE was accomplishing its stated goals of uncovering fraud and ending bureaucratic waste. But since Donald Trump has taken office, his billionaire buddy's misadventures have repeatedly disrupted crucial programs like [Education Department training](), [Consumer Financial Protection Bureau operations](), and [National Institute of Health biomedical research]() — while achieving only paltry savings that it [claims are around $37 billion](). There's a reason for that: Musk's DOGE campaign is an [ideological one](), wrapped in a thin veil of fiscal responsibility and in practice demonstrating astonishing ineptitude, as demonstrated by its handling of the NNSA. Of course the richest tech mogul in history sees [cancer research](), [environmental protection](), and [nuclear responsibility]() as "wasteful" — after all, what profits do they bring in? And while Trump has championed [denuclearization]() — a commendable task — it's important that those dismantling the warheads our government has spent 80 years stockpiling are trained, educated, and supported as they do it. As it stands, it's looking like [quick PR wins](), not [nuclear responsibility](), are the order of the day. **More on nuclear weapons:** [*State Department Insider on Elon Musk Accessing Nuclear Weapons: “If You Make Something Idiot-Proof, the World Will Build a Better Idiot”*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()