GAO: NNSA's federal workforce shrank nearly 12% as weapons workload peaks
NNSA's federal staff fell by 236 employees, or 11.9 percent, from a peak of 1,991 early in fiscal 2025 through the second quarter of fiscal 2026, GAO reported.
LOS ALAMOS - The National Nuclear Security Administration, a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy that maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, cut its federal workforce by 236 employees, or 11.9 percent, from early fiscal 2025 through the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the Government Accountability Office reported Oct. 16.
The agency's federal staff had peaked at 1,991 early in fiscal 2025 after NNSA built up its workforce in 2024, GAO said. The losses affected mission-critical jobs, including nuclear engineers and contract specialists.
GAO attributed the drop to very limited hiring from the second quarter of fiscal 2025 through the first quarter of fiscal 2026, and to separations, mostly employees choosing to retire or resign. NNSA reduced its workforce in response to presidential directives in early 2025, the report says.
The cuts come as NNSA's workload is at its highest since the Cold War, GAO said, with a $200 billion, two-decade effort to modernize nuclear weapons and related infrastructure. The agency oversees a $25 billion annual budget and about 70,000 contractor employees who manage and operate its sites; the reductions GAO reported are to its federal staff.