“The agencies and agency subdivisions set forth in section 2 of this order are hereby determined to have as a primary function intelligence, counterintelligence, investigative, or national security work. It is also hereby determined that Chapter 71 of title 5, United States Code, cannot be applied to these agencies and agency subdivisions in a manner consistent with national security requirements and considerations.”
-Wording in an executive order, signed on Thursday, that eliminates the workers’ union at NASA. While NASA was set up as a civilian agency completely separate from the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Command, which have national security functions, that was not enough to protect it from expansive White House interpretations targeting federal workers. Other federal agencies had their unions removed earlier this year, and other joined NASA in this latest executive order, such as the National Weather Service. One might wonder why these civilian agencies are being decimated by the same White House given that they are so critical to national security, but logic has little to do with government operations these days.
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