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u.s. department of energy
'Serious Damage Has Been Done': Dem Lawmakers Slam DOGE Nuclear Safety Purge
The legislators said the Trump administration's move "calls into further question DOGE's competence to carry out its self-assigned task."
Feb 20, 2025
Decrying the Trump administration's firing of hundreds of workers at the agency in charge of nuclear weapons safety, a bicameral group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Thursday asked Energy Secretary Chris Wright to provide assurances that members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency cannot access classified systems or information.
"DOGE fired up to 350 staff members at the National Nuclear Security Administration. The NNSA is entrusted with safeguarding our nation's nuclear weapons, materials, and secrets," Rep. John Garamendi (Calif.) and Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Peter Welch (Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Jacky Rosen (Nev.), Cory Booker (N.J.), and Jeff Merkley (Ore.) wrote in a letter to Wright.
"Recklessly firing personnel without a strategic plan... is extraordinarily irresponsible and dangerous to U.S. national security."
"These terminations jeopardize the security of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, weaken our ability to detect and prevent threats to those weapons, and undermine our nonproliferation commitments," the letter asserts.
"Realizing the gravity of the mistake it had made, the Trump administration scrambled to rehire the fired employees," the Democrats noted. "Serious damage has been done. We urge you to immediately reassess these decisions, restore necessary expertise to the NNSA, and ensure that NNSA staffing decisions prioritize safety and security."
The letter continues:
The NNSA plays an essential role in maintaining the safety, security, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. According to press reports, these firings occurred because "the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America's nuclear weapons." The reckless decision to eliminate 350 positions, without a clear national security justification, raises serious concerns about the Department of Energy's (DOE) commitment to this core mission. DOE has struggled to rehire some of these employees "because they didn't have their new contact information." This series of events calls into further question DOGE's competence to carry out its self-assigned task.
While the lawmakers "fully support efforts to reduce our reliance on nuclear weapons, responsibly reduce the nuclear stockpile, and curb unnecessary spending on nuclear defense programs that do not enhance our security," they argued in the letter that "recklessly firing personnel without a strategic plan, particularly those with expertise in nonproliferation, security, and arms control oversight, is extraordinarily irresponsible and dangerous to U.S. national security."
The legislators are asking Wright to explain the process behind the NNSA officials' firings, the DOE's strategy for ensuring effective staffing and oversight at the agency, which workers have been rehired, and what steps are being taken to prevent unauthorized access to classified systems by DOGE members.
"There is a right way to reduce the size and scope of our nuclear arsenal—one that enhances global security, properly safeguards our weapons, and reduces nuclear risks," the letter concludes. "These terminations do none of that."
Thursday's letter follows one sent to Wright last week by Markey and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) seeking clarification about whether any DOGE members have access to classified information about the nation's nuclear arsenal.
It also comes as global experts warn about the risk of nuclear war. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists last month moved the Doomsday Clock "from 90 seconds to 89 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to catastrophe."
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'Deeply Concerned' Dems Want to Know If DOGE Can Access Nuclear Weapons Data
"The nation and the world need to know that U.S. nuclear secrets are robustly safeguarded," argue Sen. Ed Markey and Rep. Don Beyer.
Feb 12, 2025
A pair of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Wednesday asked the Trump administration to clarify whether any members of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have access to classified information about the nation's nuclear arsenal.
Responding to U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright's admission that he granted DOGE associates access to the Department of Energy, and to reporting that a 23-year-old former intern at Musk's SpaceX was allowed into DOE's IT systems without the requisite security clearances, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)—both members of the congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group—wrote to Wright to voice their concerns.
"The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), an integral part of the Department of Energy, is entrusted with protecting the nation's most sensitive nuclear weapons secrets. The nation and the world need to know that U.S. nuclear secrets are robustly safeguarded," the lawmakers wrote.
"It is, therefore, dangerously unacceptable that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency—including individuals lacking adequate security clearances—has been granted access to DOE's information technology (IT) system despite legitimate security concerns inside the agency," they added.
Elon Musk and DOGE are getting access to the department that controls nuclear material for bombs. If we were alarmed at his access to systems for Medicare payments, we should be horrified by their access to nuclear payloads. I will be demanding answers. www.reuters.com/world/us/thr...
[image or embed]
— Senator Ed Markey (@markey.senate.gov) February 9, 2025 at 2:17 PM
"There is no justification for relaxing basic security procedures when it comes to our nuclear stockpile, but recent actions reflect a brazen disregard for DOE security policies," Markey and Beyer argued. "DOE must ensure that all personnel with access to classified information and systems surrounding our nation's nuclear arsenal follow the highest security standards."
The letter continues:
Recently, you were quoted as saying that three individuals involved with DOGE are at DOE and "have access to look around, talk to people, and give us some good feedback on how things are going." And, according to media reports, a 23-year-old former SpaceX intern, who does not have the appropriate security clearances needed to access DOE's IT system, received access over the objections of members of its general counsel and chief information offices. This incursion into some of the nation's most sensitive files is the latest in a series of Trump administration moves to plant unqualified Musk and DOGE staffers throughout the federal government, some of whom have records of leaking sensitive information and potentially wreaking havoc with vital information systems.
"As members of the congressional Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group, we are deeply concerned by this disregard of DOE security protocols and the potential impacts on our nuclear security," Markey and Beyer wrote.
The lawmakers asked Wright to answer the following questions by Friday:
- What is the process for granting, reviewing, and revoking security clearances for DOGE staffers at DOE?
- Have any DOGE staffers been given access to NNSA classified nuclear weapons information?
- Under what authority and justification was each instance of classified access granted to DOGE staffers?
- Are DOGE staffers required to undergo training on the handling of classified information?
- What security measures are in place to ensure DOGE staffers do not improperly access or inappropriately share sensitive nuclear secrets?
- Have any DOGE staffers with access to classified information had significant outside financial interests, foreign contacts, or other affiliations that could pose security concerns?
- Are NNSA employees included in the administration's buyout offer for federal employees?
- If so, and if senior NNSA employees leave the organization, how do you plan to maintain the security and secrecy of nuclear weapons and related information?
Appearing on
CNBC Friday, Wright dismissed "rumors" that DOGE members are "seeing our nuclear secrets."
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Climate Liar and Fracking CEO Chris Wright Pilloried Ahead of Confirmation Hearing
"As fires level entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles, the last thing we need is to put an oil CEO in charge of energy policy," said organizers.
Jan 15, 2025
With the U.S. Senate holding confirmation hearings for several of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet nominees on Wednesday, climate organizers were joined by progressive lawmakers outside the Capitol to speak out against one potential administration official in particular—who they warned poses "a threat to our democracy and our future."
The subject of the press conference, organized by the Sunrise Movement, was Liberty Energy CEO Chris Wright, whom Trump nominated to be secretary of energy.
"As fires level entire neighborhoods in Los Angeles, the last thing we need is to put an oil CEO in charge of energy policy," said the group, referring to deadly wildfires that have destroyed an estimated 12,300 buildings, including thousands of homes, in recent days.
The press conference was just the latest expression of outrage over Trump's selection of Wright, who contributed $400,000 to Trump's campaign in what Sunrise said was an effort "to buy the energy secretary role."
The Sierra Club called Wright the "personification of 'conflict of interest,'" noting that he has spent decades denying the connection between his company's work and the climate emergency while "getting rich from polluting, dangerous fracking for methane gas."
"Wright made it clear that, if confirmed, he'd hinder clean energy investment and promote fossil fuels like LNG exports, further enriching himself and his fellow oil and gas CEOs while we continue to pay the price with more pollution and higher energy costs," said Mahyar Sorour, director of Beyond Fossil Fuels policy for Sierra Club. "As Americans from coast to coast are living with the catastrophic consequences of the climate crisis, the last thing we need is a climate-denying fossil fuel executive at the helm of our nation's energy policy."
In 2021, Wright said on a podcast that planetary heating "is not" fueling wildfires—a claim directly at odds with scientists' warning that the changing climate, driven by fossil fuel extraction, is increasing the frequency and intensity of wildfires in Western states as well as areas that have historically faced far less destructive fire seasons.
He doubled down on the claim in 2023 as smoke from intense wildfires in Canada drifted across the U.S. East Coast, writing in a post on LinkedIn that "the hype over wildfires is just hype to justify" Democratic climate policies, and last year he told the House Financial Services Committee that "it is popular today to suggest that somehow in the next 10 or 30 years we are going to 'transition' fully away from fossil fuels. This cannot and will not happen."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Tuesday shared a video Wright posted to LinkedIn last year, in which he asserted, "We have seen no increase in the frequency or intensity of hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, or floods despite endless fear mongering of the media, politicians and activists."
"What on Earth is this man talking about?" asked Schumer. "Is he such an idealogue that he doesn't see the truth of the world around him?"
Should he be confirmed to lead the Department of Energy (DOE), said Allie Rosenbluth, United States program manager at Oil Change International (OCI), on Monday, Wright would "do his best to put a rapid end to President [Joe] Biden's pause on new authorizations for liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports." The move would raise the price of electricity, increasing prices for U.S. households by 30%, according to a recent analysis by Public Citizen, and would increase greenhouse gas emissions.
"While these actions will face stiff legal challenges and public outrage, if allowed to go forward, they will harm public health and safety for the sake of fossil fuel industry profits," said Rosenbluth. "According to the International Energy Agency, any new fossil fuel development is incompatible with meeting our climate goals and protecting our communities from devastating climate disasters like the Los Angeles fires."
Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president of government affairs of the League of Conservation Voters, said Trump's nomination of Wright is a signal that the Republican president-elect "is following through on the $1 billion offer he made to Big Oil at a dinner this spring," when he urged executives to donate to his campaign in return for rolled back climate regulations once Trump is in office.
"It is not surprising, but still appalling that Trump's pick for secretary of energy is a climate-denying Big Oil executive," said Sittenfeld.
Accountable.US called on senators weighing Wright's nomination to consider several facts about his career in the fracking industry before voting to confirm him as energy secretary, including:
- Liberty Energy has seven subsidiaries, several of which have business interests before the DOE;
- One subsidiary, Liberty Oilfield Services, operates facilities that the Environmental Protection Agency has cited for repeat Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) violations and noncompliance with Clean Water Act (CWA) reporting standards;
- Wright sits on the board of directors of the Western Energy Alliance, which has spent $675,000 on oil and gas lobbying during his tenure; and
- The Western Energy Alliance submitted a public comment in 2023 regarding the DOE's gas stove rule raising fuel efficiency requirements.
"Chris Wright's confirmation would be a win for Big Oil and a loss for climate action, environmental justice, and clean energy progress," said Accountable.US on Wednesday. "His track record shows he's unfit to serve as secretary of energy."
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