It is not enough, apparently, to arbitrarily fire tens or hundreds of thousands of dedicated civil servants for no reason except to try and hamstring the government’s normal functions. It must also be done extremely poorly.
Late last week there was the firing of workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration, a part of the Department of Energy that oversees the country’s nuclear weapons, which they then tried to undo for obvious reasons. “The termination letters for some NNSA probationary employees are being rescinded,” read an email reported by NBC News, “but we do not have a good way to get in touch with those personnel.” After they wiped them from the system, they literally didn’t know how to get in touch.
And even people who are “probationary” based on time in the government didn’t end up there by accident, and in many cases were filling very technical, highly skilled positions. A source at the National Institutes of Health told Splinter that one person was let go who had been there just under a year, but had a role directly related to the safety of clinical trials; it had taken two years to fill that role because of its specialized nature. The employee’s performance reviews had been stellar. “I’m sick over it,” a source said. “This is so wrong.”
Another source at NIH said a supervisory role had been eliminated that had been filled within the last year — again after a multi-year search and hiring process. “Perhaps contrary to popular belief, the government does not just hire whoever,” the source said. “They have to be qualified and a good fit for the position.”
In many cases, the messages sent to fired employees have said they are being let go for performance reasons, an obviously unnecessary insult to injury with no basis in fact. In one message viewed by Splinter, it seems clear that a form letter was used that wasn’t even specific to the agency in question: “Unfortunately, the Agency finds that you are not fit for continued employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the Agency’s current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment at the Agency.” The employee who received that message had apparently gotten the highest possible rating on his most recent performance review.
“Total bullshit,” a source said of the performance accusations. “Totally arbitrary.” Similar messages were sent to fired employees at the Department of Transportation, according to reporting from NBC News.
In other cases, the preposterous pretense that DOGE and Elon Musk are trying to save taxpayer money is laid bare. A source at the Department of Agriculture explained that one person there was fired who had been on staff for more than a year but was recently promoted — and they weren’t even paid by the federal government, but instead by funding from an outside organization. “Bottom line, all of this is a power grab and illegal,” the source said.
The slapdash nature of the purge is more feature than bug, of course. The purpose isn’t savings, or efficiency, or anything of the sort; they want to break things, and unlike building things, that can be done badly with pretty much the same result.
GET SPLINTER RIGHT IN YOUR INBOX
The Truth Hurts
