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The U.S. Capitol is photographed, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025, in Washington.

AP Photo/Rahmat Gul

Nuclear security agency begins furloughing workers as part of shutdown, energy secretary says

By The Canadian Press

Published 1:04 PDT, Mon October 20, 2025

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile has begun furloughing employees as part of the ongoing federal government shutdown, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Monday.

In a post on X, Wright said the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing federal workers as part of the shutdown, which began Oct. 1. In his post, Wright did not mention the number of workers who were being furloughed or what their roles are.

President Donald Trump's Republican administration fired hundreds of NNSA employees earlier this year, before reversing course amid criticism the action could jeopardize national security. Similar criticism emerged Monday after Wright's announcement.

The NNSA has said it could furlough up to 1,400 workers as a result of a funding lapse from the shutdown. Nearly 400 federal workers would remain on the job, along with NNSA contractors. The agency, a semi-autonomous branch of the Energy Department, also works to secure nuclear materials around the world.

Wright said he was set to visit the Nevada National Security Site on Monday and pledged to “ask Nevada’s leaders to help us end this shutdown.” Wright's visit is intended to “highlight the impact of the ongoing shutdown on workforce retention and weapons modernization efforts, critical to national security,” the Energy Department said.

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said it was “dangerously unacceptable that the Trump administration claims it will have to temporarily suspend certain nuclear security programs because of the ongoing government shutdown."

"There is no justification for relaxing security and oversight when it comes to our nuclear stockpile," Markey said.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Ala., said lawmakers were informed of the pending furloughs late last week.

“These are not employees that you want to go home," he said at a news conference Friday. "They’re managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid.”

At the heart of the government shutdown are looming health insurance spikes for millions of people. Democrats are seeking negotiations on expiring health care subsidies while Republicans say they won’t discuss it, or any other policy, until the government reopens.

The February firings, which initially included NNSA workers, were part of a massive purge of federal workers led by then-Trump adviser Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency.

One of the hardest-hit offices at the time was the Pantex Plant near Amarillo, Texas. Those employees work on reassembling warheads, among the most sensitive jobs across the nuclear weapons enterprise, with the highest levels of clearance.

Employees received furlough notices dated Sunday for 30 days or less, with an expiration date of Nov. 18. Employees who are not involved in performing critical functions such as those related to the safety of human life and the protection of property or working on the orderly suspension of operations were being placed in a furlough status without pay.

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Associated Press writer Jennifer McDermott in Providence, R.I., contributed to this story.

– Matthew Daly, The Associated Press