GAO: Nuclear Weapons Agency Cut 11.9% of Its Federal Staff; Officials Say Some Oversight of Nuclear Material Security Was Scaled Back
The federal agency that runs the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile has cut its federal workforce by 236 employees, or 11.9 percent, since early fiscal year 2025, even as its workload sits at its highest level since the Cold War, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) went from a peak of 1,991 federal employees early in fiscal 2025 to 1,755 by the second quarter of fiscal 2026, GAO found. The report says the agency halted its workforce planning "in response to presidential directives in early 2025," according to NNSA officials.
NNSA officials also told GAO that "the agency had to reduce some areas of federal oversight due to a lack of staff, including oversight of the security of nuclear materials." At one field office, officials said, the security office "lost approximately 40 percent of its staff that provides oversight of nuclear material security."
What GAO Found on the NNSA Workforce
NNSA, a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy, oversees a $25 billion annual budget and about 70,000 management and operating contractor personnel, according to GAO. The report says it is overseeing "a $200 billion, 2-decades-long nuclear weapons and related infrastructure modernization effort."
GAO said NNSA had been building up its staff after Congress eliminated a statutory cap on its headcount in fiscal 2023. The reduction of 236 employees "more than erased NNSA's addition of 129 employees in prior FYs," the report says, and it happened "while NNSA received increased funding" through the account that pays most federal salaries at the agency.
According to GAO, the cuts came from two main sources: "very limited hiring" and "employee separations—primarily employees choosing to retire or resign." A federal hiring freeze ran from the second quarter of fiscal 2025 through the first quarter of fiscal 2026. A national security exception allowed NNSA to hire 35 federal employees during that time, the report says.
Of 256 NNSA employees who left from the second quarter of fiscal 2025 through the first quarter of fiscal 2026, 112 took the government-wide deferred resignation offer, GAO found: 84 retired and 28 resigned. The report says no NNSA employees were separated through a reduction in force during that period.
Mission-Critical Jobs
The number of NNSA employees in mission-critical occupations peaked at 983 in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and fell to 849 by the second quarter of fiscal 2026, "a reduction of 134 people, or 13.6 percent over five quarters," the report says.
GAO said the cuts "have impacted NNSA's mission critical workforce, including occupations like nuclear engineers and contract specialists." The engineering and architecture group, which includes general engineers, program managers and safety basis staff, lost 63 employees, or 12.4 percent, from fiscal 2023 through the middle of fiscal 2026, according to the report.
Where the Cuts Hit Hardest
The Office of Environment, Safety, and Health lost 24.1 percent of its federal staff from the first quarter of fiscal 2025 to the second quarter of fiscal 2026, the largest drop of any NNSA office, according to GAO. The Office of Management and Budget lost 21.7 percent, and the office of the NNSA administrator lost 21.0 percent.
Among field offices, the Nevada Field Office lost 21.3 percent of its federal workforce, the Los Alamos Field Office 18.2 percent, the Y-12 Field Office in Tennessee 15.3 percent and the Pantex Field Office in Texas 12.8 percent. "During this same period, each location hired fewer than 10 employees," GAO wrote.
Officials told GAO that "the reductions in staff and loss of institutional knowledge have created operational challenges and increased workloads for the staff that remained." The report says NNSA is "now attempting to find efficiencies using technology, artificial intelligence, and through changes to their recruiting and hiring practices," but officials noted limits on using AI "in classified settings."
What NNSA Said
GAO said it gave NNSA a draft of the report and that "NNSA provided technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate." The report makes no recommendations.
NNSA officials told GAO the agency "has initiated limited hiring since the end of the second quarter of FY 2026," including plans to hire more human capital specialists to recruit candidates. GAO said it is separately reviewing NNSA's long-term workforce planning and plans to issue that report in early 2027.
The report, numbered GAO-27-109127, was prepared for Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It is dated Oct. 15, 2026, and was publicly released Oct. 16.
TDFP has asked the NNSA for comment and will update this story.
Sources: U.S. Government Accountability Office, "National Nuclear Security Administration: Reductions to Federal Workforce," GAO-27-109127, Oct. 15, 2026 (publicly released Oct. 16, 2026): https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-27-109127 (PDF: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-27-109127.pdf)
Comments