National Nuclear Security Administration employees could face layoffs as soon as Friday if the federal shutdown continues, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in an Oct. 16 appearance on Bloomberg TV, a message he reiterated to USA Today.
Following publication of this story, a Department of Energy spokesperson confirmed the furloughs to Source NM in a statement reading:
“Due to the Democrat shutdown, approximately 1,400 NNSA federal employees will be furloughed as of Monday, October 20th and nearly 400 NNSA federal employees will continue to work to support the protection of property and the safety of human life. NNSA’s Office of Secure Transportation remains funded through Oct. 27, 2025.”
The statement also said Wright would appear in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday to further address the issue.
“We have not furloughed anyone yet, but we will be out of funds by tomorrow or early next week. So we will be forced to do that if this shutdown continues,” Wright said on Bloomberg. “We’ve been paying them to date, but starting tomorrow, Monday at the latest, we’re not going to be able to pay those workers, if that continues on for long, they may get other jobs,” Wright, putting the “the sovereignty of the country,” at stake.
The NNSA is a section of DOE that oversees the nation’s nuclear stockpile and development of nuclear weapons and waste, including programs for Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Laboratory and other programs such as nuclear disposal near Carlsbad.
U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Alabama), who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, underscored the message Friday morning during a U.S. House of Representatives news conference, when he said he had been told the NNSA would furlough most of the staf— about 80% of employees.
“We were just informed last night, the National Nuclear Security Administration, the group that handles the nuclear stockpile, that the carryover funding they’ve been using is about to run out,” he said Friday. “…These are not employees that you want to go home. They are managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid,” he said.
He also told CBS News that the NNSA told his office the agency would place roughly 1,400 employees on furlough and 375 would continue to work.
Neither Wright nor other officials have said where furloughs will occur.
A spokesperson for Los Alamos National Laboratory told Source via an emailed statement that LANL “has funds in place to continue operations. We focus on maintaining the safety and security of our employees and facilities.”
An automatic response from Sandia National Laboratories stated that they are “open and employees are reporting for work. The Labs will operate in the short-term using unspent funding.”
In a statement, Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said the DOE had not provided any information on site-specific impacts, but called Wright’s comments an “excuse.”
“In New Mexico and across the country, workers at our National Labs or other defense-related facilities are crucial for our national security. At this time, LANL and Sandia continue to operate at full capacity to deliver the cutting-edge research, technologies, and capabilities that keep our nation safe,” Luján said in a statement to Source NM. “Now, Secretary Wright and the Trump administration have used the government shutdown as an excuse to threaten these critical jobs. Secretary Wright and the Trump administration must prioritize this vital workforce to protect our national security.”
Requests for comment from other members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation remained pending Friday. This story will be updated if needed.
In a statement Friday afternoon, Rep. Melanie Stansbury called the NNSA furloughs “a dangerous political move that puts national security and American lives at risk.”
She further said: “While Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque can maintain operations for now, prolonged NNSA furloughs will directly impact New Mexico’s labs and compromise our national security. These career professionals are essential to both our safety and economy. This shutdown must end. I urge my Republican colleagues to reopen the House and negotiate in good faith—to protect our labs, our security, and the healthcare of families across our state and nation.”
Phone lines for media contacts at Sandia National Laboratories and local NNSA offices all had out-of-office messages, and deferred further comments about the shutdown to the U.S. Department of Energy press office.
The lack of information about furloughs and the shutdown is “dispiriting,” Dylan Spaulding, the senior scientist in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a nonprofit science advocacy group, told Source NM Friday.
“It conveys that the NNSA and Department of Energy are not reliable employers,” he said. “I think the best and greatest scientists in particular will move to opportunities elsewhere. The danger is, once those people are lost, they never come back, so even if the furloughs stop, even if the shutdown ends, funding is resumed, you’ve done some irreparable damage.”
Local anti-nuclear groups said the furlough was contradictory to the administration’s push to develop nuclear power and weapons.
“I think this is mostly theatrical and designed to bring Democrats to the bargaining table,”Greg Mello, the executive director of nuclear nonproliferation nonprofit Los Alamos Study Group, said. ”However, if NNSA’s unspent balances are not in the categories they need, they may well have to furlough people, and they might even furlough people as part of the theater.”
Don Hancock, director of the Nuclear Waste Safety program at the Southwest Research and Information Center, criticized the “lack of transparency” from the federal government about what impacts this may have on nuclear weapons stockpiles and waste work in New Mexico.
“What I don’t understand is why this shutdown is so different from the 35-day one in the first Trump administration when they didn’t get rid of 80% of the NSA folks,” Hancock said.
