Senate NDAA provision could protect NNSA staff from DOGE axe

A provision in the Senate’s version of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) could protect employees in charge of maintaining the nation’s nuclear weapons from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The Senate Armed Services Committee’s version of the NDAA included a section that, if included in the eventual conference version with the House and signed into law by the president, would classify DOE workers performing “Atomic Energy Defense Activities” would be “considered as a position that is necessary to meet national security responsibilities.” 

Workers in DOE’s semi-autnomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) fall under this national security category.

This classification would protect NNSA workers from future layoffs under DOGE, as a joint memo from the Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget orders that any job cuts would exempt national security positions. It could also potentially protect NNSA from a federal hiring freeze.

Meanwhile, the House version of the bill does not have such a provision. But an amendment by Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Strategic Forces subcommittee, was passed into the committee’s draft version to require NNSA leadership to brief the House Armed Services Committee on workforce needs and “increased requirements across weapon development and infrastructure modernization.”

In February, NNSA was caught off guard when DOGE employees fired, then rehired, around one-sixth of its workforce. DOGE, an entity created by President Donald Trump, was formerly headed by tech billionaire and Trump campaign donor Elon Musk, and was created with the mission to help the White House eliminate wasteful government spending. 

Many lawmakers have written letters to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright questioning the number of job losses in the DOE and grilled Wright for not responding. There was no word last week on whether Wright ever replied to requests from House Appropriations Energy and Water subcommittee ranking member Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.).