Who Needs Allies When There’s Business To Be Done?

Multiple lawmakers here in Munich told me the U.S. Congressional delegation presented Zelensky with a piece of paper they wanted him to sign which would grant the U.S. rights to 50% of Ukraine’s future mineral reserves. Zelensky politely declined to sign it. #MSC2025

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 14, 2025

2/2 In today’s meeting with U.S. lawmakers, Zelensky was telling them about this paper, which many of them didn’t already know about, not the other way around. Z said he could not sign it because it didn’t contain any security guarantees for Ukraine. Apologies for any confusion.

— Josh Rogin (@joshrogin) February 15, 2025

Lawmakers didn’t know about this? How was this supposed to become a binding agreement? By executive order?  Or was the deal for Trump? Did he think it would survive Putin running roughshod over Ukraine?

Indeed, who needs anyone who knows how government actually works?

Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter. 

Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons. 

An Energy Department spokesperson disputed the number of personnel affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA, and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.” 

The agency began rescinding the terminations Friday morning. 

Some of the fired employees included NNSA staff who are on the ground at facilities where nuclear weapons are built. These staff oversee the contractors who build nuclear weapons, and they inspect these weapons. 

It also included employees at NNSA headquarters who write requirements and guidelines for contractors who build nuclear weapons. A source told CNN they believe these individuals were fired because “no one has taken anytime to understand what we do and the importance of our work to the nation’s national security.”

Hang on, it gets worse:

“Congress is freaking out because it appears DOE didn’t really realize NNSA oversees the nuclear stockpile,” one source said. “The nuclear deterrent is the backbone of American security and stability – period. For there to be any even very small holes poked even in the maintenance of that deterrent should be extremely frightening to people.”

Yes, Congress can act on Trump’s actions without holding hearings, passing legislation, or going on social media. But also, the new leadership of the DOE doesn’t know the DOE is the successor to ERDA ( which succeeded the AEC).

The people who did this had no fucking idea what they were doing.

Political officials at the Energy Department told its non-political HR administrators to cite poor performance personnel files as a justification for firing the employees, the source said. Frustrated by the pressure from political appointees, two of those HR employees submitted their resignations on Friday. 

A DOE spokesperson declined to comment on the poor-performance rationale for the firings. CNN has reached out to the two employees who resigned. 

In addition to overseeing America’s nuclear weapons, the NNSA also helps secure nuclear material nationwide. Sources told CNN it’s a critical mission, pointing to the Russian drone attack on a Chernobyl power plant reactor in Ukraine on Thursday. 

“NNSA maintains sensors in Ukraine to help track nuclear risks, whether intentional or unintentional,” a source said, adding the layoffs are “frightening.”

No fucking idea in the world. “The wing’d with awe/Inviolable.”

Not that anybody in the White House knows what they’re doing, either.