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“CALLING FOR CREATION OF THE NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H3743-H3744 on June 7, 1999.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
CALLING FOR CREATION OF THE NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Thornberry) is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mr. THORNBERRY. Mr. Speaker, there has been a lot of discussion about the loss of sensitive military information to China. We must take steps to make sure these losses do not happen again, but that responsibility is not just the administration's, it also falls on us in Congress to fix what is broken.
One of the things that is broken is the organizational structure and management of the nuclear weapons complex in the Department of Energy. Study after study, report after report, commission after commission have found that DOE's management of our nuclear weapons program has been a mess. In fact, I am personally aware of 18 studies over the past 10 years, all of which are highly critical of the management and organization of the DOE related to nuclear weapons.
Just in April, Secretary Richardson's own review team reported that roles and responsibilities are unclear, lines of authority and accountability are not well understood or followed, and this lack of clear accountability and lines of authority is a basic systemic problem which is partly responsible for the serious security lapses.
As serious as those lapses are, they are only one detrimental effect of the DOE management structure. The challenge of making sure that our nuclear weapons remain safe and reliable well beyond their design life without nuclear testing is enormously daunting. We simply will not be able to do the job, and our national security will not be protected if we fail to correct the management problems that have plagued DOE for 20 years. It is time to act. This is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.
So, if the problem is so clear and undeniable, even according to DOE's own internal findings, why does not DOE fix the problem itself? After the most recent DOE internal management review, Secretary Richardson announced some reforms which do move in the right direction, but they do not move nearly far enough and still retain confusing, overlapping bureaucracies without one clear chain of command.
GAO has written a report devoted just to this question of why the DOE, fully knowing what the problem is, cannot fix itself, and the bottom line is that for 20 years DOE has not been able to solve the problem, and even with the best of intentions it will not be able to solve the problem alone. Congress must act, and we must act before it is too late.
I will also say that in my view the administration is more focused on containing the political damage arising from the spy scandal than it is on solving the underlying problems which allowed the spy scandal to take place. We in Congress cannot allow ourselves to just respond to today's headlines in a political way, we have to channel all of this energy and concern generated by the scandal into constructive solutions for a long-term problem.
Working with Senators and others, I have drafted a proposal which cuts to the heart of the problem and would set the nuclear weapons complex on the right path to do its job and protect our security. My proposal would create a new agency within the Department of Energy called the Nuclear Security Administration. That agency would be responsible for all aspects of development, testing and maintenance of our nuclear weapons and for the facilities which comprise our nuclear weapons complex. It would have only one person at the top who would be an Under Secretary of Energy, and that person would have the authority to do the job with a clear direct chain of command. If something goes wrong, the Secretary, the President, the Congress know who to hold accountable.
The essential elements of this proposal have been recommended time after time in study after study, and after all this study I think we would be negligent in our duties if we do not take advantage of those studies and reports and implement their recommendations.
I think there is one other point that is important. If the last year has taught us anything, it should have reminded us of the central role that nuclear weapons play in strategic relationships around the world. From India and Pakistan to China, we are reminded that nothing alters the balance of power faster than a change in nuclear capability. If we do not protect our own nuclear deterrent against espionage and against aging, the security of our Nation and ideals will be threatened. We should act today when the path is clear and the time is right.
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