Trump officials try to reverse DOGE-led firings

Elon Musk talks DOGE in the Oval Office — 'The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for'

(Image credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)

What happened

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday it was trying to reverse last weekend's mass firing of employees working on the H5N1 bird flu epidemic. The layoffs were part of the weekend purge led by Elon Musk's secretive Department of Government Efficiency team, focusing on "probationary" employees hired or promoted less than a year ago. The Energy Department earlier this week struggled to rescind the firing of hundreds of employees working on U.S. nuclear weapons programs.

Who said what

"Several positions" supporting America's bird flu response "were notified of their terminations over the weekend," but "we are working swiftly to rectify the situation and rescind those letters," a USDA spokesperson told NBC News. When the Energy Department tried to rescind layoffs for all but 28 of the roughly 350 employees it fired at the National Nuclear Security Administration, they "could not all be reached" because they had lost access to their government email accounts, The Associated Press said, "and some were reconsidering whether to return to work, given the uncertainty created by DOGE."

"The DOGE people are coming in with absolutely no knowledge of what these departments are responsible for," said Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association. The Trump administration was sticking with its mass firings at other agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Emergency Management System, despite "experts cautioning that DOGE's blind cost cutting will put communities at risk," AP said.

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What next?

The FAA "purge" includes employees working on radar, landing and navigational systems and maintenance, and despite assurances from Musk and the White House, it "could certainly affect air safety going forward," Rolling Stone said, citing current and former officials. "Holy hell — that was my response," one FAA official said. "How do they think airports and airplanes work?"

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.