Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, showed up on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Feb. 20 alongside Argentinian President Javier Milei. Sporting sable shades and a chainsaw, Musk indulged in a metaphorical celebration of the “waste” he seeks to remove from federal spending through the Department of Governmental Efficiency (DOGE).
President Donald Trump’s first day in office included the renaming of the United States Digital Service, replacing “Digital” with “DOGE,” with Musk blazing forth as its head. DOGE is not legally headed by Musk. Rather, he is listed as a special government employee of the federal government, serving as a senior advisor to the president. Multiple DOGE employees work or have worked at Musk’s SpaceX, Tesla or X companies.
As part of mass firings prompted by DOGE, the Department of Energy (DOE) recently terminated an estimated 1,800 employees, over 300 of which worked at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). These are the people responsible for many nuclear projects, such as curbing the radiation from plutonium decay in nuclear warheads.
Less than a week after the firings, Teresa Robbins, NNSA’s acting administrator, rescinded the terminations, possibly impacted by a mass outcry from concerned nuclear and geopolitical experts. All but around 25 momentarily-fired NNSA workers have been reinstated, following the agency’s initial inability to contact the individuals as a result of redacted access to their work emails.
While it is economically judicious to impose austerity measures in government policy, it is more important to exercise caution when firing federal employees, especially those who assemble nuclear warheads, prevent the spreading of nuclear radiation and monitor global nuclear activity. Musk should take pride when DOGE is efficient, but he should also ensure that chaotic processes, leading to the reversal of hundreds of terminations across federal agencies, are corrected. Failing to increase the level of caution used in terminating federal employees would be obstinately foolish.
