Lawmakers overseeing DOE labs cite security concerns with mass firings

WASHINGTON — Senators from the Energy and Natural Resources committee said Thursday the Donald Trump administration firing so many Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration employees, even while reversing many, presents a national security risk.

“President Trump is doing exactly what our adversaries want,” Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources committee who oversees Los Alamos and Sandia National Laboratories, said Thursday referring to the administration firing much of the work force at the DOE laboratories. “They [the adversaries] aren’t losing their best experts, we are. This is a national security threat that will have lasting impacts on our country for decades to come.”

Heinrich’s comments came at a committee hearing Thursday where witnesses spoke to Senators on the risks posed by foreign nationals from “countries of risk” working at labs for the DOE and its semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The witnesses included Geraldine Richmond, former undersecretary for science and innovation at the DOE under the Joe Biden administration, and Paul Dabbar, former undersecretary for science at DOE under the first Trump administration.

When Heinrich asked Richmond about her thoughts on the current dismissals, she said, “these cuts, particularly in the security area” give her “even greater concern because they’re immediate.”

“To be able to handle classified information,” Richmond continued, “when we make these cuts, even if we say come on back… what are the chances we’ve increased the risk of someone being hired by China to come over and share what they’ve been doing. I too have been recruited,” she added, and “I don’t have a mortgage to pay,” but “there are other people that do.”

Heinrich agreed, adding “one of the, probably the leading red flag for someone being a risk with respect to recruitment is financial distress. So we just created a whole bunch of people with really important clearances, really important expertise,” that are “all under financial distress,” creating “a bunch of targets for the CCP [Chinese Communist Party).” 

“I’m aghast at how unthoughtfully this is all being carried out,” Heinrich said.

After the hearing, Dabbar, declined comment on the mass firings, and that he had “no idea” what would happen with the employees whose firings were rescinded.

During the hearing, Dabbar said security issues are not just a concern for NNSA but at DOE labs working on fusion and other advanced technology.

“I want answers and that’s why I’m sending a letter,” Cortez Masto, who oversees Nevada National Security Site, told the Exchange Monitor in the halls of the Capitol Thursday. She expressed frustration on how she wants to know “exactly who was fired and what was going on. I only have published reports that there were firings, and now they’re trying to rehire people but they’re having problems doing that.”