Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
Mass firings have rocked multiple agencies as President Trump and Elon Musk ramp up plans to drastically slash and reshape the federal work force.
Federal workers protesting in Washington on Tuesday. Credit… Kent Nishimura/Getty Images Published Feb. 14, 2025 Updated Feb. 15, 2025, 4:26 p.m. ET The Trump administration accelerated plans for widespread work force cuts across the government on Friday, as employees at multiple federal agencies learned they would be losing their jobs.
Agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Agriculture Department were the latest to be hit with layoffs as President Trump and a team led by the billionaire Elon Musk ramped up an initiative to cut government spending and overhaul government. The administration has recently focused its efforts on an estimated 200,000 probationary workers, who do not receive the same protections as many other federal employees.
On Friday, officials at the E.P.A. said they had terminated 388 probationary employees. “President Trump was elected with a mandate to create a more effective and efficient federal government that serves all Americans, and we are doing just that,” an agency spokesperson said in a statement.
Some of the biggest cuts were made at the Energy Department, which began laying off staff members on Thursday, according to three people familiar with the matter. Around 1,000 federal workers at the agency, all probationary employees, were told they were losing their jobs, according to one of the people. All three spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the moves publicly.
More than 300 of those workers were employed at the National Nuclear Security Administration, which manages the nation’s nuclear weapons fleet, and about 50 were at the department’s loan programs office, which helps bring new energy technologies to market, two of the people said. A spokesperson for the Energy Department disputed those numbers, saying fewer than 50 people at the National Nuclear Security Administration were fired.
The spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday that “these staff members were probationary employees and held primarily administrative and clerical roles,” adding that the department would “continue its critical mission of protecting our national security and nuclear deterrence.”
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
