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The agency responsible for managing America's nuclear arsenal will be forced to furlough approximately 80 percent of its workforce as early as this week after running out of carryover funding, a senior congressional leader warned Friday.
The National Nuclear Security Administration is preparing to send home the majority of employees who oversee the nation's stockpile of 5,177 nuclear warheads as the federal government shutdown enters another week with no resolution in sight.
Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said his office was informed Thursday night that the NNSA's reserve funds were nearly exhausted.
"These are not employees that you want to go home," Rogers told reporters. "They're managing and handling a very important strategic asset for us. They need to be at work and being paid."
The NNSA, which operates under the Department of Energy, is tasked with designing, manufacturing, servicing and securing the country's nuclear weapons. The agency employs fewer than 2,000 federal workers who supervise approximately 60,000 contractors.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed the severity of the situation in an interview with USA Today published Thursday, saying "starting next week, we're going to have to let go tens of thousands ... of workers that are critical to our national security."
According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a global security nonprofit, about 1,770 of America's nuclear warheads are currently deployed.
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The warning comes as the Senate failed for a 10th consecutive time Thursday to advance Republican legislation that would reopen the government, leaving federal operations in limbo with no clear path forward.
Staff at the nuclear agency have been told that furloughs could begin as soon as Friday, USA Today reported, citing unnamed employees.
Rogers did not clarify whether the potential workforce reduction would constitute temporary unpaid leave during the shutdown or permanent layoffs.
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