Administration of Trump reinstates job reductions, aims at employees of National Archives

National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Begins Layoffs Amidst Controversy

The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has started laying off employees, marking a significant shift in the organisation's workforce. Approximately 3% of NARA's staff, or nearly 100 employees, will be affected by the layoffs.

The layoffs, known as RIFs (Reductions in Force), were initiated on Monday and are set to continue until June 30. These actions are in response to a requirement from President Trump that all agencies reshape their organisations.

The layoffs are intended to enable faster public access to NARA's records, artifacts, and holdings. However, employees have been warned that facilities will be short-staffed, museum programming will be limited, and record retrieval, such as for veterans, will likely see backlogs due to the layoffs.

NARA took these steps despite a federal judge blocking the implementation of similar orders at nearly two-dozen agencies. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston temporarily closed due to NARA's layoffs of probationary employees in February.

The first round of layoffs at NARA "wiped out" the Office of Innovation and the division that provides support to field offices and presidential libraries. This move has raised concerns about the future of NARA's services and the preservation of historical records.

Valorie Findlater, the agency's chief of management and administration, stated that the decisions regarding NARA's future state were made carefully and strategically. However, the search results do not provide information about the person appointed as the executive archivist (geschäftsführender Archivar) of the National Archives and Records Administration.

Meanwhile, the case is currently pending before the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the administration, many of the affected agencies are prepared to move swiftly to implement their own layoffs.

In related news, the State Department layoffs were blocked in federal court. Marco Rubio, State Department Secretary, was named acting archivist by Trump, but James Byron, president of the Richard Nixon Foundation, is currently managing the agency on a day-to-day basis. Rubio attempted to implement RIFs at State over the weekend, but was blocked in federal court at the 11th hour.

NARA's layoffs come after Trump fired Colleen Shogan, the most recent U.S. Archivist, earlier this year. The future of NARA remains uncertain as the Supreme Court deliberates on the legality of these organisational changes.