Former Republican Sen. Jon Kyl, who retired from the Senate earlier this year, suggested yesterday that the National Nuclear Security Administration needs more autonomy to better do its job, and he argued that freedom could come by shifting NNSA under the Pentagon. Before he left the Senate, Kyl helped author legislation that created a 12-member NNSA governance panel that will make recommendations about the future of the agency, and after a speech at the Capitol Hill Club yesterday, Kyl said he believed it would be better if the NNSA could regain the autonomy that lawmakers initially intended for the agency when it was created more than a decade ago, but he said he doubted that could happen. “If you could get the leadership of DOE or the Administration straightened out as to the original intent, which was to have a truly independent entity, theoretically it could still work in DOE, but absent that I think it would be better probably as a part of DoD,” Kyl told NW&M Monitor.
KYL SUGGESTS PENTAGON COULD BE BEST PLACE FOR NNSA AUTONOMY
During a question-and-answer session after his speech, Kyl also emphasized that the panel would have to wrestle with the appropriate place in Congress for oversight of the agency as well. “Over the last dozen or so years the problems with this setup as well as the problems within both the House and Senate appropriations committees have just decimated the program,” Kyl said. “When one chairman of the appropriations committee, who has some conflicts of interest because they’ve got some water projects to fund, can make the difference here, something is clearly wrong,” Kyl said.
Senator seeks information on Utah participation in DOE’s nuclear program
WASHINGTON – As the Department of Energy plans to move forward with the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus program, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) looks for clarity in the state’s role in the initiative. During the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Wednesday hearing, the Utah senator stood firm in believing that the country needs to pursue […]