Congresswoman Dina Titus (D-NV-01) led a letter today to Chris Wright, Secretary of Energy, and Brandon Williams, Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) condemning their decision to carry out historic furloughs announced this week in Las Vegas and asking to reinstate furloughed employees to safeguard national security.

 

“Placing 1,400 federal employees on furlough, including 68 at the Nevada National Security Site, will be devastating for national security and directly impact Southern Nevadans,” Rep. Titus said. “NNSA employees have already been targeted by this Administration through threatened DOGE cuts earlier this year. Now, they are being furloughed because of Republican inaction resulting in the government shutdown.”

 

“NNSA facilities are charged with maintaining nuclear security in accordance with long-standing policy and the law,” Rep. Titus continued. “Undermining the agency’s workforce at such a challenging time diminishes our nuclear deterrence, emboldens international adversaries, and makes Nevadans less safe. Secretary Wright, Administrator Williams, and Congressional Republicans need to stop playing politics, rescind the furlough notice, and reopen the government.”

 

Congresswoman Titus’s letter was signed by 27 Members of Congress.

 

 

On October 20, Secretary Wright held a press conference in Las Vegas announcing that the Department of Energy would be furloughing 1,400 direct-hire federal employees, leaving only 375 on the job nationwide. NNSA oversees sixteen facilities throughout the United States. One of its premier facilities, the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), is tasked with carrying out the Stockpile Stewardship Program, deploying 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 50 years old, such experiments are imperative to understand and predict how these aging devices will perform if deployed.

 

Secretary Wright’s announcement on October 20 calls into question the safety and security of the sensitive material at the Nevada National Security Site, other NNSA facilities, and the reliability of our nuclear 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 brings into question why this step was necessary now and why more NNSA employees were not deemed essential, given the gravity of their duties.

 

Congresswoman Titus’s letter asks the Secretary to provide answers to several questions, including the legal basis for designating the majority of NNSA’s employees as non-essential; how many employees remain in each of NNSA’s departments, offices, and programs; and a breakdown of the duties of the furloughed employees.