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One Year into Trump II: DOE’s Diminished Capacity Over the course of 2025, the second Trump administration has overseen a major loss in staff at DOE, but these changes will not deliver the energy and innovation impacts that this administration, or an...

Read the full report (the first in a series analyzing the current state of play at DOE one year into Trump II) below ⬇️

fas.org/publication/...

DOE leaders must clearly communicate roles, reporting lines, and program continuity to restore internal morale and ensure the agency can continue driving energy innovation and promoting energy abundance amid an unprecedented U.S. energy affordability crisis.

While change is normal, the opacity surrounding the DOE organization makes it difficult for researchers, private partners, and the public alike to stay abreast of programmatic updates. Trust is critical to governance.

These changes significantly alter DOE’s internal map. Programs that once lived together are now split apart, while other functions have been consolidated under new leadership structures. The result is a department whose mission areas are organized very differently than they were even a few months ago, leaving open questions about how core clean energy, deployment, and innovation functions will be staffed and managed going forward. Though previous administrations, including the Biden administration, have conducted reorganizations of DOE in the past, this reorganization was implemented with significantly less transparency. As of late December, the brief initial announcement and new organization chart are the only information the public has received on the reorganization. DOE’s website is currently inaccessible. Career staff have reported that they still lack clarity as to how their chains-of-command will be affected and whether or not the programs they work on will continue or change. These structural changes are unfolding at the same time DOE is experiencing substantial workforce losses, which heightens uncertainty about staff capacity. It remains unclear how remaining staff are being reassigned within the new organizational chart. With offices being renamed or re-scoped — and in many cases merged, split, or relocated — advocacy and stakeholder communities cannot easily determine whether DOE retains the necessary expertise or institutional knowledge to carry out ongoing work.

Though previous administrations have conducted reorganizations, none have done so while experiencing substantial workforce losses. Career staff have reported that they still lack clarity as to how their chains-of-command and programs will be affected.

And then there’s the reorganization

In November 2025, DOE leaders announced a sweeping reorganization that eliminated, consolidated, and rebranded major program offices while creating several new ones, formalizing a significant shift in the Department’s priorities

The loss of in-house staff is expensive too. Though 50% of national lab field lawyers are gone, their work is not, so DOE issued a solicitation for up to $50 million worth of external counsel in support of the agency’s day-to-day needs.

In addition to implementation capacity, DOE has lost technical expertise that supports nationwide research and innovation agendas, hamstringing public support for private sector innovation in emerging and critical technologies.

Why it really matters

The damage to implementation from staff loss will be felt in American’s wallets: a 63% cut to the SCEP staff means key energy affordability programs that keep homes warm and the lights on will be undersupported.

Furthermore, the deep cuts to S3 call into question DOE’s ability to implement the remaining BIL and IRA funding for demonstration and deployment programs, not to mention DOE’s ability to oversee the billions of dollars worth of demonstration and deployment awards it has already made. Many of the new S3 staff were intentionally hired from the private sector for their industry knowledge and connections. These federal workers were subsequently the first to leave after the presidential transition. They took a risk in working for the federal government, and then were made to feel expendable by the new administration’s heavy-handed attempts to push people out. That experience will color any future attempts by DOE to rehire private sector talent.

Many of the new S3 staff were intentionally hired from the private sector for their industry knowledge. They were the first to leave, and many likely leave with ill-feelings towards public sector employment.

Deep cuts to S3 call into question DOE’s ability to implement the remaining BIL and IRA funding for demonstration and deployment programs, plus the ability to oversee the billions of dollars already awarded.

Institutional knowledge and cohesion between technical and legal teams are critical to getting money out the door. Every staff member lost creates a gap in the implementation process; too many losses threatens to break down DOE operations entirely.

Why this matters

Staff changes and resignations at DOE will inevitably slow down implementation and threaten DOE’s ability to fulfill its mandate. DOE has struggled over the past few years to obligate funding from its budget due to its lengthy application and award negotiation process

Offices under the former Under Secretary for Science and Innovation (S4) also suffered greater than average loss of staff: 28% due to the DRP and 29% overall. Even the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) and the Office of Nuclear Energy (NE) lost nearly a third of their staff.

By attracting many industry leaders from the private sector, the S3 offices were able to build trust with major energy companies, leading to much higher participation from top companies in BIL and IRA programs compared to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Many of the staff responsible for this heightened private sector trust have now left the agency.

S3 offices also lost staff to the end of remote work, despite GAO finding that remote work policies improve talent attraction and retention. The Biden-era remote work policy allowed S3 offices to rapidly hire qualified staff and implement new programs funded by BIL and IRA.

At the most extreme end, the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, established by BIL, lost 80% of its staff. Other offices established under the Biden admin, like the Grid Deployment Office and the State and Community Energy Programs also suffered heavy losses.

DOE was no exception to the President’s “large-scale reductions in force” (RIFs). One in five staff departed, with the largest exodus coming from the offices under the former Under Secretary for Infrastructure (S3)

The Department of Energy is the heart of national energy innovation and infrastructure. Unlike your house/car/phone, it runs on people.

Our team tracked the first year of Trump II’s DOE staffing. Here’s what they found 🧵⬇️

Foreign PhD students are a significant and core part of the university STEM workforce, and limiting their funding may result in a mass exodus of our brightest minds, @colesci.bsky.social tells @davidmjourno.bsky.social ⤵️
sciencebusiness.net/news/interna...

Graph showing a projected 17 percent decline in new international students from 2025-2026 published in Nature based on IIE survey data https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-026-00088-9/index.html

Why does this graph in the Nature "US science after a year of Trump" article scare me so much? Because according to recent research published by my former colleague, Amy Nice and her coauthors, when we lose ten international students, you also lose funding to support eight Americans.

"Whether you’re making business decisions, or deciding whether to buy a house in a certain area that might be flood prone, government data can’t be replaced," FAS Denice Ross tells @kylamandel.bsky.social ⤵️

One year after the catastrophic wildfires in southern California, EESI and @scientistsorg.bsky.social invite you to a briefing this Tuesday on emerging solutions to the wildfire crisis. This event will feature remarks from Sens. John Curtis and @padilla.senate.gov.

Learn more 👉 eesi.org/012726fire

Name an under-the-radar idea that could pass Congress this year and have a big impact on the country. Loren DeJonge Schulman, Lee Drutman, Joseph Dunne, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Maya MacGuineas, Daniel Cochrane, Nicol Turner Lee, Vivek Chilukuri

Government IT is often hopelessly outdated. Despite a bipartisan legislative push and a last-ditch effort in the NDAA, the Technology Modernization Fund lapsed in December.

@lorenraeds.bsky.social calls for a comeback in @notusperspectives.bsky.social

www.notus.org/perspectives...

Next week, join FAS and @eesionline.org for this season’s hottest briefing on emerging solutions to tackle the wildfire crisis, and the federal policy strategies for getting these solutions into the field.

Register for in-person or livestream ➡️ www.eesi.org/briefings/vi...

Name an under-the-radar idea that could pass Congress this year and have a big impact on the country. Loren DeJonge Schulman, Lee Drutman, Joseph Dunne, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), Maya MacGuineas, Daniel Cochrane, Nicol Turner Lee, Vivek Chilukuri

Government IT is often hopelessly outdated. Despite a bipartisan legislative push and a last-ditch effort in the NDAA, the Technology Modernization Fund lapsed in December.

@lorenraeds.bsky.social calls for a comeback in @notusperspectives.bsky.social

www.notus.org/perspectives...

Speakers include...
@padilla.senate.gov
Sen John Curtis
Annie Schmidt, Alliance for Wildfire Resilience
Kelly Martin, Lasair Fire Consulting Group LLC
Sara Clark, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger
Dr. Michael Falkowski, Earth Fire Alliance
Dr. Hannah Safford, FAS

Sign up ⤵️
www.eesi.org/briefings/vi...

Next week, join FAS and @eesionline.org for this season’s hottest briefing on emerging solutions to tackle the wildfire crisis, and the federal policy strategies for getting these solutions into the field.

Register for in-person or livestream ➡️ www.eesi.org/briefings/vi...

Unless politicians find a workaround, climate science at the center will be destabilized, FAS's Dr. Hannah Safford tells @highcountrynews.org.

AND we also want to welcome Dr. John Balbus as a Senior Advisor to our Climate and Health portfolio, where he will help us develop strategic priorities to strengthen public health in the face of the growing threats of climate change.

The Federation of American Scientists is excited to announce the arrival of @areddie.bsky.social as a Senior Advisor to some of our work, in collaboration with @futureoflife.org, at the intersection of emerging technologies, global security, and risk reduction.