Chris Wright, secretary of the Department of Energy, admitted to mistakes after layoffs impacted employees of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Speaking with Scripps News on Wednesday, Wright said, "I probably moved a little too quickly there, and when we made mistakes on layoffs in NNSA, we reversed them immediately, less than 24 hours. The security of our country, our nuclear deterrence, our nuclear weapons, is critical, and we take that message, we don't take that lightly."
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The NNSA core mission is to "ensure the United States maintains a safe, secure, and reliable nuclear stockpile," according to its website.
NBC News reports that after the layoffs occurred, agency staff attempted to re-hire some of the employees but had trouble reaching them. It's unclear how many of the laid-off employees returned to work.
The layoffs were part of President Donald Trump's plan to shrink the federal government. The administration has targeted probationary employees, often newly hired individuals, likely because it has more legal authority to terminate the workers.
Wright claims the Department of Energy grew by 20% under the Biden administration, and he is working to "right-size" it.
