The Trump administration today is laying off most probationary employees at the Department of Energy, sources confirmed to Latitude Media. The layoffs target employees who had been with the agency for less than a year. Many of those impacted have not yet received official notice, those sources said, but rumors of the layoffs had been circulating among employee group chats for several hours.
These sweeping cuts at DOE were central to many of the changes Trump promised on the campaign trail, and were a focal point of the conservative playbook Project 2025, which calls for eliminating several offices and slashing funding for everything from research to investment.
For several weeks leading up to the layoffs, amid the chaos of on-again-off-again funding freezes, new appointees, and directional pivots, DOE remained at the perimeter of the very public spotlight accompanying Elon Musk and his team from the Department of Government Efficiency.
But behind the scenes, extensive changes have been happening, even before today’s layoffs. There are rumors of as many as six DOGE workers at the agency’s headquarters. On Tuesday, employees reported being instructed to leave the office early, prompting suspicions of an “office raid” by DOGE. As one staffer told Latitude Media, “people are kind of afraid of what information [DOGE] have their hands on, and what they might do with it.”
The department had been in a “weird, quiet limbo” after the inauguration, one staffer said, thanks in part to instructions to pause work while newly-appointed Trump staffers implement a series of executive orders and memos, including one attacking DEI work — and the lingering impact of the now-rescinded Office of Management and Budget memo that attempted to indefinitely pause the disbursement of all federal funding.
For weeks, the staff of at least one office largely remained too afraid of Trump and Musk’s response to resume normal communications. According to DOE employees, both staff and contract, who spoke to Latitude on the condition of anonymity, higher-ups appeared to maintain the order of a pause, even after a federal judge struck it down for the first time. As of this week, at least two offices within DOE have been allowed to resume communications with funding recipients, Latitude has learned.
Many upcoming funding opportunities, however, have been postponed, contributing to uncertainty throughout the clean energy sector. Across the agency, career officials have been waiting fearfully for their turn with Musk’s “woodchipper.” DOE employees, both staff and contract, who spoke to Latitude Media on the condition of anonymity, described efforts to dismantle the agency leading up to the layoffs. Hundreds of webpages have been taken down. Early-career Trump appointees are screening all communications between offices and their applicants. And there’s a looming exodus of career employees in addition to the layoffs — including the deputy director of one of DOE’s most powerful offices.
Quiet changes at DOE
Despite the revocation of the OMB memo — declared illegal for a second time this week — certain DOE activities remain halted. Some of those are due to Trump’s order of a 90-day “review” of actions related to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. But, as one January 27 memo makes clear, the Day 1 executive order titled Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs is also to blame.
The memo, which has been sent to many if not all DOE funding recipients, directed the suspension of any diversity, equity, and inclusion programs; community benefit plans; and Justice40 requirements in any DOE funding: “Recipients who have DEI and CBP activities in their awards will be contacted by their Grants Officer to initiate award modifications consistent with this Order,” reads the memo, signed by Sara Wilson, acquisition director and acting head of contracting activity for energy efficiency and renewable energy in the department.
The memo has yielded a surge of confused emails from applicants, at least one of whom thought it meant that DOE would leave their project unpaid. And even as some offices return to regular communication with companies and projects — including to clarify the terms of the memo — an overhaul of the agency’s webpages is underway. The task is reportedly being supervised by DOE’s central public affairs office, with deputy press secretaries screening everything from blogs to announcements, as well as external responses to companies and projects.
At the Loan Programs Office, for example, where Trump appointee John Sneed addressed workers for the first time at an all-hands meeting this week, many web pages were initially taken down, after being flagged for issues such as references to diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, or community benefit plans. LPO replies to applicants and loan recipients, meanwhile, require screening and approval by the public affairs office, including by one Trump appointee who appears to have graduated from college in 2023.
That office, which has been a target of conservative criticism in recent months, is largely expected to continue functioning during the second Trump term, though with a different focus. One loan recipient, sustainable aviation fuel maker Montana Renewables, has already been cleared to start receiving cash promised to it by the Biden administration. Other loans, the agency has said, are still under review to ensure consistency with the administration’s priorities.
A separate office, meanwhile, is scouring future funding opportunities for references that might raise flags for the new administration, with a particular eye out for the word “renewable.” This is a reprise of a strategy carried out during the first Trump administration, and is less about DEI than it is about ensuring the opportunities will go forward under the clean energy-skeptical leadership.
Ongoing downsizing
Prior to today’s layoffs, the Trump administration reported that around 75,000 federal workers had accepted the Twitter-style buyout offer which offered pay through September in exchange for immediate resignation.
Staffers Latitude Media spoke to said they had not taken the administration up on its offer. But they expect an exodus from DOE — which has a staff of just under 17,000 federal employees — nevertheless.
At the Loan Programs Office, Robert Marcum, a 13-year veteran of the office who has served as deputy director since July 2022, has reportedly tendered his own resignation, and will be stepping down February 28.
But it’s not just agency leadership that’s leaving. As one staffer put it, working to fund fossil fuel projects “is not why I took this job.” Many within DOE exited with the Biden administration in January. But everyone who spoke to Latitude Media this week anticipates another wave of resignations in the near future.
“A lot of people are motivated by climate reasons, and really do believe in it,” said one staffer. “So I think we’re going to lose a lot of really talented people.”
In response to a request for comment on DOE’s communication with funding recipients, the funding pause, and today’s layoffs, an agency spokesperson offered this statement: “The Department of Energy is complying with recent court orders related to funding.”
