PONEMAN HEADS UP LIST OF WITNESSES AT HOUSE NNSA OVERSIGHT HEARING FRIDAY

The House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing Friday on oversight of the National Nuclear Security Administration will include testimony from three high-ranking DOE officials as well as the Department’s Inspector General and the head of the Government Accountability Office’s Natural Resources and Environment Department. According to a witness list released by the committee yesterday, Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Poneman heads up the DOE contingent, and he will be joined by NNSA Administrator Tom D’Agostino and Chief Health, Safety and Security Officer Glenn Podonsky. IG Gregory Friedman and GAO’s Gene Aloise will also testify at the hearing, which is expected to explore the risks of reducing oversight of NNSA contractors, management challenges facing DOE and NNSA, how to sustain recent safety and security improvements across the nuclear weapons complex, and how to reduce the potential for wasted funds and cost overruns within the Department, according to a background memo released by the committee yesterday.