DOE ‘Emphatically’ Supports Bringing NNSA Back Under Department

The Department of Energy supports bringing the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Administration back under the Energy Department in line with recommendations of the Congressional Advisory Panel, according to a DOE response to the panel’s findings obtained by Weapons Complex Morning Briefing. DOE largely agreed to the panel’s recommendations from late last year, including the most extreme, which found that after evaluating several governance models, "the solution is not to seek a higher degree of autonomy for NNSA, because that approach would only further isolate the enterprise from needed Cabinet Secretary leadership. Instead it is recommended that Congress place the responsibility and accountability for the mission squarely on the shoulders of a qualified Secretary, supported by a strong enterprise Director with unquestioned authority to execute nuclear enterprise missions consistent with the Secretary’s policy direction,’” DOE Secretary Ernest Moniz wrote in the response. “We emphatically concur and would add to this that rebuilding national leadership focus on nuclear security will also require strengthening regular communications between the Secretary and the relevant Congressional leaders on the various policy elements that make up the nuclear security mission.”