STANSBURY, LEGER FERNÁNDEZ, SWALWELL, AND TITUS SLAM DANGEROUS TRUMP ADMIN FURLOUGHS OF NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION WORKFORCE

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Representatives Melanie Stansbury (NM-01), Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Eric Swalwell (CA-14), and Dina Titus (NV-01) today led 23 of their colleagues in a letter to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Administrator Brandon Williams, condemning the unprecedented furlough of nearly 80 percent of the NNSA’s federal workforce amid the ongoing Republican government shutdown.

The letter warns that the furloughs—impacting more than 1,400 employees responsible for maintaining and securing the nation’s nuclear stockpile—pose a grave risk to U.S. national security and appear to be politically motivated.

“Furloughing the vast majority of the agency’s personnel is not only an unprecedented step, it is deeply harmful to U.S. national security,” the lawmakers wrote. “Undermining the agency’s workforce at such a challenging time for U.S. global leadership diminishes our credible deterrence, emboldens our international adversaries, and makes the world a more dangerous place.”

According to a notice sent to Congress, the NNSA announced that it will exhaust funding and furlough 1,400 employees, while about 375 Department of Energy direct hires will remain on the job.

The lawmakers note that this marks the first time in NNSA’s 25-year history that such furloughs have occurred during a government shutdown. They warn that the decision leaves the Department of Defense without its NNSA counterparts for key nuclear modernization programs and could be viewed by foreign adversaries as a sign of instability in the U.S. nuclear deterrent.

“It is very likely that your decision to furlough 1,400 NNSA workers is being seen in Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang as evidence of an unstable U.S. nuclear deterrent, presenting a unique and sobering threat to our national security,” the members continue.

The lawmakers demand that the Department of Energy and NNSA provide detailed responses to Congress by November 7, 2025, including:

• The legal basis for designating most NNSA civilian employees as “non-essential.”
• The total number of employees furloughed and remaining on duty.
• A breakdown of impacted staff by department, program, and office.
• A detailed plan for maintaining nuclear safety and oversight during the shutdown.
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The letter urges the Administration to immediately rescind the furlough notice and return NNSA employees to duty to ensure the safety, security, and reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile.

“While Republicans have failed to use their governing mandate to keep the government open, we implore you to ensure that national security is not sacrificed as a consequence of their inaction,” the lawmakers wrote.“We urgently demand that you rescind this furlough notice and return NNSA employees to the important job of ensuring our nuclear stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable.”

The full letter can be found here and here:

Dear Secretary Wright and Administrator Williams,



We write to express our deep concern about the furlough of nearly 80% of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) federal workforce. Furloughing the vast majority of the agency’s personnel is not only an unprecedented step, it is deeply harmful to U.S. national security. While the Republicans’ government shutdown continues, we are also troubled that this announcement appears to be politically motivated rather than the result of careful deliberations amidst a funding shortfall.

In a notice sent to Congress, the NNSA announced that it will exhaust funding and will be forced to furlough 1,400 employees, while about 375 Department of Energy direct-hires will remain on the job. As you know, federal employees play a vital role in U.S. national security, and the NNSA is an essential component of our national nuclear security enterprise. From maintaining and modernizing our nuclear weapons stockpile, to overseeing the Navy’s nuclear propulsion, and managing nuclear nonproliferation programs, the United States is safer because of the dedicated public servants at NNSA, who have already been under attack by this Administration. These federal employees play a critical oversight role in ensuring that the work required to maintain nuclear security is carried out in accordance with long-standing policy and the law. Undermining the agency’s workforce at such a challenging time for U.S. global leadership diminishes our credible deterrence, emboldens our international adversaries, and makes the world a more dangerous place. Further, NNSA is working collaboratively with the Department of Defense on the modernization of our nuclear deterrent. Whereas NNSA has made the determination to not exempt the overwhelming majority of its federal employees, DOD has for nearly every program associated with nuclear modernization, leaving the Navy and Air Force without counterparts to continue this critical work.

The NNSA manages an extensive network of national labs throughout the United States. Each plays a unique role in ensuring our nuclear stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable. For example, the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), managed by NNSA, is one of the premier facilities tasked with carrying out the NNSA’s mission. The NNSS is where NNSA’s Stockpile Stewardship Program deploys a wide range of technologies focused on experiments in weapons science to ensure the stockpile’s reliability. Since the United States no longer conducts full-scale nuclear tests, stockpile scientists at the NNSS obtain data from breakthrough experiments, engineering audits and analysis, high-tech computer simulations, and world-class diagnostic measurement systems to keep warheads reliable, safe, and secure. As the nuclear arsenal is now more than fifty-years-old, such experiments are imperative to understand and predict how these aging devices will perform if deployed. Per your announcement on October 20, 2025, approximately sixty-eight NNSA employees at the Nevada National Security Site have been furloughed, calling into question the safety and security of the sensitive material at NNSA facilities and the reliability of our arsenal.

As Secretary Wright noted in his press availability in Las Vegas, furloughing NNSA employees has never happened before. Government shutdowns, however, have occurred throughout the agency’s 25-year history. This is the fourth shutdown President Trump has presided over. But the NNSA has never furloughed employees during prior Trump shutdowns. It begs the question why this step was necessary now and why more NNSA employees were not deemed essential, given the gravity of their duties. In addition, this decision has far-reaching foreign policy consequences. With arms control and nuclear nonproliferation regimes slowly eroding as a result of the President’s lack of global leadership, our adversaries are keenly focused on this development. It is very likely that your decision to furlough 1,400 NNSA workers is being seen in Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang as evidence of an unstable U.S. nuclear deterrent, presenting a unique and sobering threat to our national security.

Congress has a right to know exactly how much more dangerous our lives are now that you have sent the vast majority of NNSA’s staff home. Accordingly, we demand answers to the following questions no later than November 7, 2025:

1. What is the legal basis for designating the majority of NNSA’s civilian employees as non-essential (not excepted) employees?

2. What is the total number of NNSA civilian employees that have been furloughed as of October 20, 2025?

3. What is the total number of NNSA civilian employees that remain on duty as of October 20, 2025?

4. How many civilian employees have been furloughed from each department, program, or office within the NNSA?

5. How many civilian employees remain on duty in each department, program, or office within the NNSA?

While Republicans have failed to use their governing mandate to keep the government open, we implore you to ensure that national security is not sacrificed as a consequence of their inaction. We urgently demand that you rescind this furlough notice and return NNSA employees to the important job of ensuring our nuclear stockpile is safe, secure, and reliable.

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