Keith’s note: To my NASA JPL readers: I am doing my best to report what I learn about what is going on at your workplace. I get calls and texts at all hours of the day 7 days a week that I then have to check out. I am supposed to be retired and yet I spend hours a day on this. Even with contributions this costs me money to operate. If all of you get fired I will not be affected. If you do not like my reporting then get JPL PAO and your management to tell you what is going on instead of expecting me to do it. I hope no one gets fired. Have a nice day. Update: just got this from Veronica McGregor – with my reply. I am starting to think that I may stop covering JPL altogether. No one is talking to one another.

Keith’s Note: according to a press release: “Last night, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a memo instructing federal agencies to prepare for Reductions in Force (RIF) if Congress does not pass a stopgap to fund the government by September 30. “The Trump administration continues to use public servants as pawns in their game to distract and destroy our federal agencies,” said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). “This threat of further RIFs is shortsighted and stupid. The government can’t be run like a deal-making game show—people behind critical agency efforts provide services that benefit all Americans. Why does Trump want to punish Americans? We will fight these foolish RIFs with every tool Democrats and others resisting Trump’s chaos have available to us.”

Keith’s note: Just as a new threat of RIFs and cancellations across NASA emerges – and the rebound that will have across the rest of the space community – JPL picked this opportunity to talk its employees out of working together to protect their careers by unionizing. Last month I posted “Is JPL Anti-Union?“: “Last week there was a NASA JPL town hall. The ongoing effort to unionize JPL was a topic of discussion. Shortly after that an anti-union email was sent by management to all employees. Here is the JPL Workers United website: https://jplworkersunited.org” Today’s Update: There is now a website dedicated to forming a union published by JPL at https://jplbeinformed.com/ which says things such as “The idea that the formation of a union on Lab is solely JPLers coming together to brainstorm and request changes leaves out a key part of the union process. … Once certified, a union becomes a third-party legal representative with exclusive bargaining rights over your employment, and individual employees no longer have the full freedom to advocate directly for their own interests – even if an individual feels that they can better convey their own situation or contributions than the small number of JPL employee representatives who may be speaking on the employees’ behalf.” The timing of this union busting effort could not be worse than now.

Keith’s note: According to Politico (and other sources as well): “White House tells agencies to prepare for mass layoffs if government shuts down”: “In the memo, OMB told agencies to identify programs, projects and activities where discretionary funding will lapse on Oct. 1 and no alternative funding source is available. For those areas, OMB directed agencies to begin drafting RIF plans that would go beyond standard furloughs, permanently eliminating jobs in programs not consistent with President Donald Trump’s priorities in the event of a shutdown.“ These are the contingency layoff, shutdown, and cancellation plans NASA HQ is ready to implement. They haven’t told you about this, have they? They use clever code words to deny that anything bad is in store. Now this memo is out. Will NASA comment on what might begin to happen at midnight 30 Sep/1 Oct? Or will things just happen with an email? Ask your management to ask their management. The internal memo can be found below.

Keith’s note: the following was posted on 28 August at the GESTA IFPTE LOCAL 29 blog: GESTA recently received notification of Agency Management’s intent to modify NASA’s policies and procedures governing Reductions in Force (RIFs), or layoffs in the Federal Government, with its release of a revised RIF NASA Interim Directive (NID). To be clear, this is not yet notification that a RIF is underway. [More below].

Keith’s note: In my earlier rant I mentioned the crap that I have been going through which certainly pales in comparison to what NASA and contractor employees have to endure as their dream jobs are stripped away for no reason other than to meet a body count quota. I am pretty good at running interference for all of you who have helped me amass what nonsense is going so as to be able to tell everyone who is affected directly or indirectly without jeopardizing your job. But a thin red line passed today. My bullshit meter pegged at saturation. It’s time to step back. More below.

Keith’s note: the occupant’s last whiteboard message is a common sight across NASA. A wealth of expertise and dedication is being mindlessly forced out, undermining NASA’s leadership in space exploration. Ad Astra Per Aspera y’all. Larger image below.

Keith’s note: WARN notices were sent to some Human Space Flight Technical Integration Contract (HSFTIC) employees. Integrated Mission Operations Contract (IMOC) folks received generic 60 day WARN notices last week and there will be individual layoff notices sent out at the beginning of September to the specific folks who are being laid off. This is all being done according to the President’s Budget Request (PBR) for FY 2026 – even though NASA says that they are going to follow direction from Congress. This all comes to a head in September when Congressional budget stances, the PBR, threats of rescissions, and all of the other political nonsense that infects Washington, collides in advance of the end of FY 2025 on 30 September.

Keith’s note: This is the internal RIF planning chart circulating within NASA the Human Health and Performance Contract community. It specifically relates to contractor employees – but it mirrors plans being developed in other parts of the agency. Note that this is being explicitly done via “NASA Directive: Offices, Programs, and Projects to align with the FY26 Presidential Budget Request of $18.8B” – and not due to any budget agreed to by Congress. Of course, NASA Headquarters would rather that you not see this just yet – and spoil the post-Labor Day surprise. Text below.

Keith’s note: I don’t want to freak people out, but there is a question that has been troubling me. A lot of media focus has been on departing NASA civil servants (which sucks) but there may be massive contractor employee layoffs as well (which equally sucks). If things stay on the path that they seem to be on something needs to break soon.

• NASA is acting as if the President’s Budget Recommendation (PBR) for FY 2026 is formal direction with regard to missions, contractor personnel issues. Congress has not finalized a FY 2026 budget yet. But the White House and NASA seemingly do not care. Congress has already complained about this.
• The WARN Act (29 USC Ch. 23 Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act) requires employers to provide 60 days advance written notice of mass layoffs. FY 2025 ends on 30 September and FY 2026 Begins on 1 October. So if these PBR directives are going to be implemented legally, would not WARN notices start to be sent out to employees on 1 August i.e. Friday?
• Let me know if you see or hear anything. Hang in there.
• UPDATE: I have learned that NASA Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility contractors (Peraton) have received WARN letters. 
• UDPATE: Significant contractor cuts (15-20% overall, some groups being eliminated) coming at the NASA Shared Services Center/ WARN letters are going out.
• UPDATE: NASA Goddard WARN notices are arriving with contractor employees – now: “We anticipate that the separations will become effective on October 1, 2025 (or within 14 days thereafter) and are expected to be permanent. This notice is being provided to you following the WARN Act, 29 U.S.C. 2101-2109, as implemented by federal regulations at 20 C.F.R. Part 639. The information set out below is based on the best information currently available to the Company, but may change due to subsequent events.” “This notice, is to inform you that you may be laid off due to these reductions. Based on current information, the Company believes that all job titles and positions at the employment site listed above may be impacted”