MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan said Monday that the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to cut spending were similar to the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, during which 13 American military personnel were killed.
President Donald Trump established DOGE by rebranding the United States Digital Service in a Jan. 20 executive order, then added additional responsibilities to the commission involving the hiring of new federal employees with a Feb. 11 executive order. Jordan claimed DOGE’s approach “makes no sense” during a panel discussion with “Morning Joe” guest hosts Jonathan Lemire and Katty Kay.
“Amid the onslaught of federal firings, the Trump administration is apparently looking to reinstate some of the nuclear safety workers that they had previously fired, but now they can’t get a hold of them. Multiple staffers within the National Nuclear Security Administration were let go on Thursday,” Lemire said. “Then on Friday, officials with that agency frantically attempted to rehire some of those employees, but struggled to get in touch with them because they no longer had access to their federal government email accounts.”
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“This is no better case study than this, in terms of the dangers of going too fast, not thinking it through, and — and targeting workers and — and departments that should be protected because they perform such crucial roles,” Lemire added.
In a Feb. 12 executive order, Trump directed federal agencies to justify why they should not face elimination or consolidation while allowing them only one new hire to replace every four employees who depart.
“Yeah, leave the people we need at the FAA, maybe within nuclear agencies. Let’s not just get everyone, kick them off the block immediately,” Jordan told Lemire and Kay. “I keep going back to this does remind me of the federal government version of the Afghanistan drawdown. Everyone agreed, it was pretty much a bipartisan consensus, we needed to get out of Afghanistan, the way it went about, we went about doing it was horrible. We could have done it in a better way.”
Thirteen American military personnel died in an Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Abbey Gate during the evacuation from Kabul. Family members of the fallen servicemembers repeatedly criticized the Biden administration over the incident, while former President Joe Biden claimed “nobody made a mistake,” according to a book released in February 2024.
At least 50 workers at the National Nuclear Security Administration were laid off Thursday before the reduction in force was rescinded, Forbes reported.
“Right now, we agree that there’s waste in the federal government and that everyone would like to cut the deficit and cut spending,” Jordan said. “The way they’re going about it, it makes no sense. They need to be more strategic about what they’re cutting and where, and have some success, have some early success to show that the mission can continue before you just decimate and hollow out critical areas like nuclear security.”
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