Thank
you for the opportunity to discuss the FY
2005 Budget Request for the National
Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
This is my second appearance before this
Committee as the Under Secretary for
Nuclear Security, and I want to thank all
of the Members for their strong support
for our important national security
responsibilities.
OVERVIEW
The
NNSA has four fundamental and unique
responsibilities for U.S. national
security:
-
Stewardship of the
Nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile
-
Reducing the threat posed
by the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction
-
Providing reliable and
safe propulsion for the U.S. Navy
-
Management of the
national nuclear security complex, which
includes both security for our
facilities and materials to protect our
employees and our neighbors, and
sustaining the facilities
infrastructure.
In the
fourth year of this Administration, with
the strong support of the Congress, the
NNSA programs have achieved a level of
stability that is required for
accomplishing our long-term missions. As
the post-Cold War era evolves, the NNSA is
managing the Nation’s nuclear warheads
according to the guidance in the Nuclear
Posture Review. The Department of Energy
(DOE), through the NNSA, works to assure
that the Nation’s nuclear weapons
stockpile remains safe, secure, reliable,
and ready, and to extend the life of that
stockpile in support of Department of
Defense (DOD) military requirements. Our
Nation will continue to benefit from the
security that results from an effective
nuclear deterrent, with confidence that
the nuclear weapons complex is ready and
prepared to respond rapidly and
effectively if required.
Stockpile Stewardship activities are
carried out without the use of underground
nuclear testing, continuing the moratorium
initiated by the U.S. in 1992. I am
pleased with the continuing ability of the
Stockpile Stewardship Program to certify
to the President, through the Annual
Certification Assessment Report, the
safety, security, and reliability of our
nuclear weapons stockpile using
science-based judgments using cutting edge
scientific and engineering tools as well
as extensive laboratory and flight tests.
We are gaining a more complete
understanding of the stockpile each year.
Computer codes and platforms developed by
our Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASCI)
program are now used routinely to address
three-dimensional issues in weapons
performance, contributing to continuing
certification, baseline studies, as well
as supporting the upcoming refurbishment
workload.
The
NNSA maintains a robust infrastructure of
people, programs, and facilities to
provide specialized scientific and
technical capability for stewardship of
the nuclear weapons stockpile. This past
year, Los Alamos National Laboratory
manufactured the first certifiable W88 pit
since the closure of Rocky Flats in 1989.
Los Alamos remains on-track to certify a
war reserve W88 pit by 2007. Also, in the
past year, we began the irradiation of
Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rods
in a TVA reactor, restoring a key nuclear
manufacturing technology. We also
continue our facilities recapitalization
effort. There is a notable improvement
across the nuclear weapons complex, and
NNSA is delivering on our promise to the
Congress to stabilize our deferred
maintenance in FY 2005.
The
Nation continues to benefit from advances
in science, technology and engineering
fostered by the national security program
activities, including cutting edge
research and development carried out in
partnership with many of the Nation’s
colleges, universities, small businesses
and minority educational institutions.
The University of Rochester’s Omega laser
is a key facility in NNSA’s Inertial
Confinement Fusion program. It provides
experimental capability for Stockpile
Stewardship as well as a user facility for
training tomorrow’s scientists and
engineers. Overall, the NNSA programs,
including three national laboratories, the
Nevada Test Site, and the production
facilities across the U.S. employ nearly
2,300 Federal employees and approximately
35,000 contractor employees to carry out
this work.
In June 2002, the
United States
championed a new, comprehensive
nonproliferation effort known as the
Global Partnership. World leaders
committed to raise up to $20 billion over
10 years to fund nonproliferation programs
in the former Soviet Union. The NNSA
contributes directly to this effort by
carrying out programs with the
international community to reduce and
prevent the proliferation of nuclear
weapons, materials and expertise. The
security of our Nation and the world are
enhanced by NNSA’s ongoing work to provide
security upgrades for military and
civilian nuclear sites and enhanced border
security in Russia and the Former Soviet
Union. In the past year, we have
completed comprehensive materials
protection control and accountability
upgrades at 17 Russian nuclear facilities,
and began efforts to install security
upgrades at vulnerable Russian Federation
Strategic Rocket Forces sites. With the
support of the Congress, we are
implementing an aggressive Megaports
initiative to enhance global nuclear
material detection at 15 major seaports
shipping large volumes of container
traffic to the U.S. We are reducing the
world’s stocks of dangerous materials such
as plutonium through NNSA-sponsored
Fissile Materials Disposition programs in
the U.S. and Russia as well as through
elimination of Russian plutonium
production.
The
Nation benefits from NNSA’s work in
partnership with the Department of
Homeland Security to develop and
demonstrate new detection technologies to
improve security of our cities. Perhaps
the most tangible benefits to the Nation
following the 9/11 terrorist attacks are
the “first responder teams” of highly
specialized scientists and technical
personnel from the NNSA sites who are
deployed across the Nation to address
threats of weapons of mass destruction.
These teams work under the direction of
the Department of Homeland Security and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation to
respond to nuclear emergencies in the U.
S. and around the world. In the past
year, these teams have provided support to
such diverse groups and locations as New
York City, Operation Iraqi Freedom,
Olympic Planning in Athens, and the
Government of Thailand. Our teams have
participated in major training and
exercise events in the United States and
overseas. They have developed new
capabilities, including Triage,
that enables our first responders to
rapidly determine if an item of interest
includes special nuclear material in
yield-producing quantities.
The NNSA also works in
partnership with the DOD to meet their
needs for reliable and militarily
effective nuclear propulsion for the U.S.
Navy. In the past year, the Naval
Reactors Program has completed 99 percent
of the reactor plant design for the
VIRGINIA-class submarine, and supported
“safe steaming” of another two million
miles by our nuclear-powered ships. They
have continued their unsurpassed record of
“clean up as you go”, including
remediating to “green grass” the former
S1C prototype Site at Windsor,
Connecticut, and completing a successful
demonstration of the interim naval spent
fuel dry storage capability in Idaho.
NNSA BUDGET
SUMMARY
The FY
2005 budget request totals $9.0 billion,
an increase of $382 million or 4.4
percent. We are managing our program
activities within a disciplined five-year
budget and planning envelope. We are
doing it successfully enough to be able to
address emerging new priorities and
provide for needed funding increases in
some of our programs within an overall
modest growth rate – notably Safeguards
and Security, Nuclear Weapons Incident
Response, and Facilities and
Infrastructure Recapitalization – by
reallocating from other activities and
projects that are concluded or winding
down.
The
NNSA budget justification contains the
required three years of budget and
performance information, as well as
similar information for five years as
required by Sec. 3253 of the NNSA Act, as
amended (Title XXXII of the National
Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2000, Public Law 106-65, 50 U.S.C.
2453). This section, entitled
Future-Years Nuclear Security Program,
requires NNSA to provide to Congress each
year at the time the budget is submitted
the estimated expenditures necessary to
support the programs, projects and
activities of the NNSA for a five fiscal
year period, in a level of detail
comparable to that contained in the
budget. Since the inception of NNSA, the
Future Years Nuclear Security Program (FYNSP)
has been provided as a separate document
supporting the budget request. Starting
with this budget, NNSA will meet this
statutory requirement by including outyear
budget and performance information as part
of a fully integrated budget submission.
BUDGET AND
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
There are
three areas of the NNSA budget where
mission priorities require us to
request significant increases in funding
for FY 2005.
Safeguards
and Security/Design Basis Threat
Protecting NNSA people, information,
materials, and infrastructure from harm or
compromise is one of our most serious
responsibilities and highest priorities.
The FY 2005 budget request for NNSA’s
Safeguards and Security Program is $706.9
million, an increase of 21 percent over
the FY 2004 enacted level, that is needed
to implement a new Design Basis Threat (DBT)
at all NNSA sites and facilities. The
Secretary of Energy issued the new DST in
May 2003, as a result of a post-September
11th analysis of the threats
against which we must protect DOE sites
and materials across the country.
Implementation plans based on
vulnerability assessments for each of the
sites are in final preparation. These
will delineate the upgrades and associated
costs plan to upgrade service weaponry,
extend explosive impact zones, consolidate
nuclear material, and make additional
improvements of a classified nature to
bring NNSA facilities into full compliance
with the new DBT by the year 2006. The FY
2005 NNSA budget includes $107.9 million
($89.6 in Safeguards and Security and
$18.3 million in Secure Transportation
Asset) to address the new DBT. NNSA will
shortly submit a request for FY 2004
reprogramming and appropriation transfer
to allow this important work to continue
on schedule. The FY 2006 funding request
for DBT implementation will be addressed
during this spring’s programming process.
In
recent months we have had some highly
publicized occurrences at some NNSA
sites. In each instance, NNSA and DOE
have taken immediate and aggressive
actions to address these occurrences and
to ensure that any potential vulnerability
is mitigated as soon as possible and that
longer term fixes are put into place as
appropriate. Because of these problems,
we have chartered two external review
groups to provide an independent
assessment of our management of security.
While I am confident that there has been
no compromise of classified material and
that no nuclear material is at risk, I
believe security can and should be
improved. The Secretary and I have both
made it clear that we will not tolerate
any reduction, perceived or real, in our
protective force readiness or in our
ability to protect the complex. Funding
for Safeguards and Security in NNSA has
increased over 70 percent during this
Administration, which is strong indicator
of the priority we place on this
responsibility. The Secretary and I join
together in making it well known that we
will not tolerate any reduction, perceived
or real, in our protective forces and our
abilities to protect the complex.
Facilities
and Infrastructure Recapitalization
The
Facilities and Infrastructure
Recapitalization Program (FIRP) is
essential to NNSA’s ability to maintain a
responsive robust infrastructure. I am
pleased to note that its mission and
performance is commended in the recent
preliminary assessment by the National
Research Council on DOE’s facility
management. The FY 2005 budget request
for FIRP is $316.2 million. This increase
follows a two-year period of flat
funding. The request restores the program
to our previously requested FYNSP levels;
it places the program back on our
previously planned schedule and reflects
our commitment to fulfill the direction of
the Congress to end the program by 2011.
Nuclear
Weapons Incident Response
The
third growth area in the FY 2005 budget
request is the Nuclear Weapons Incident
Response Programs. The FY 2005 request
of $99.2 million reflects an increase of
11 percent over the FY 2004 level,
recognizing the greatly increased number
of deployments of these assets within the
United States and abroad. The long term
sizing of this effort in terms of dollars
and people continues to evolve along with
its critical role in homeland security.
We have relocated this account separately
within the Weapons Activities
appropriation to provide additional
visibility into these programs and funding
request.
At
this time, I would like to focus on the
remainder of the President’s budget
request for NNSA Weapons Activities
including Defense Programs, Defense
Nuclear Nonproliferation, Naval Reactors,
and the Office of the Administrator
accounts.
Weapons Activities
The FY
2005 budget request for the programs
funded within the Weapons Activities
appropriation is $6.568 billion, an
increase of 5.4 percent over FY 2004 due
largely to the increase in security and
facilities infrastructure. Within Weapons
Activities, the budget structure has been
changed in response to Congressional
concerns to align Directed Stockpile Work
funding with individual weapon systems,
and to highlight Nuclear Weapon Incident
Response as a separate line.
The Nuclear Posture Review
(NPR) guidance directed that NNSA maintain
a research and development and
manufacturing base that ensures the
long-term effectiveness of the Nation’s
stockpile; and, support the facilities and
infrastructure that are responsive to new
or emerging threats. The NPR also
directed NNSA to begin a modest effort to
examine concepts that could be deployed to
further enhance the deterrent capabilities
of the stockpile in response to the
national security challenges of the 21st
century.
The
United States is continuing work to
refurbish and extend the life of the B61,
W76 and W80 warheads in the stockpile.
Within the FY 2005 request of $1.4 billion
for Directed Stockpile Work (DSW), funding
for the life extension programs increases
by seven percent to $477.4 million. This
reflects the expected ramp up in the three
systems with First Production Units
scheduled in FY 2006-2009, and the
completion of life extension activities
for the W87. In FY 2005, DSW funding will
support research and development of
advanced weapon concepts to meet emerging
DOD needs that will enhance the nuclear
deterrent, and to ensure a robust and
capable NNSA for the Future. The NPR
highlighted the importance of pursuing
advanced concepts work to ensure that the
weapons complex can provide nuclear
deterrence for decades to come. In FY
2005, $9.0 million is requested to support
the modest research and development effort
in the Advanced Concepts Initiatives (ACI)
to meet emerging DOD needs and to
train the next generation of nuclear
weapons scientists and engineers. The
Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) is
the most mature concept being studied in
this program. Funds for the RNEP study
are included in the FY 2005 budget as a
separate line item from the rest of the
advanced concepts study activity. A
request for $27.6 million is also included
for the continuing RNEP feasibility,
design definition and cost study. The
RNEP study was requested by the Nuclear
Weapons Council in January 2002.
The RNEP study is to
determine whether either of two existing
warheads – the B61 or the B83 – can be
adapted without resuming nuclear testing
to improve our ability to hold at risk
hardened, deeply buried facilities that
may be important to a future adversary.
The request for advanced concepts funding
is to investigate new ideas, not
necessarily new weapons. For example, we
are currently examining the feasibility of
adapting an existing weapons carrier and
existing nuclear warheads to achieve a
delivery system with greater assurance
that the intended nuclear mission could
not be compromised by either component
failure or adversary attack, thus giving
greater reliability for nuclear missions.
Appropriate uses for additional work in
advanced concepts might include examining
the feasibility of warheads with improved
design margins, easier manufacturing,
greater longevity and improved safety.
Any of these ideas would only be pursued
for future development if directed to do
so by the President and the Congress.
Progress in other parts of the Stockpile
Stewardship Program continues. The FY
2005 request for Campaigns is $2.4
billion, essentially level with FY 2004.
This request funds a variety of Campaigns,
experimental facilities and activities
that continue to enhance NNSA’s confidence
in moving to “science-based” judgments for
stockpile stewardship, and provide cutting
edge technologies for stockpile
certification and maintenance.
While
there is no reason to doubt the ability of
the Stockpile Stewardship Program to
continue to ensure the safety, security,
and reliability of the nuclear deterrent,
the Nation must maintain the ability to
carry out a nuclear weapons test in the
event of some currently unforeseen
problems that cannot be resolved by other
means. Within the guidance provided by
the Congress, we are beginning to improve
our readiness posture from the current
ability
to
test within 24 to 36 months to an ability
to test within approximately 18 months.
The FY 2005 budget request of $30 million
supports achieving an 18-month readiness
by September 2005. But let me be clear,
there are no plans to test.
National Ignition Facility
at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
(LLNL) remains on budget and schedule.
The FY 2005 request of $130.0 million
continues construction installation and
commissioning of laser beams. Once
complete in 2008, the 192-laser beam
facility will be capable of achieving
temperatures and pressures found only on
the surface of the sun and in exploding
nuclear weapons. We are anticipating the
first Stockpile Stewardship experiments in
2004 using four laser beams. As a result
of recent technical advances in capsule
design, target fabrication and computer
simulations, we expect to begin the fusion
ignition campaign in FY 2009 with a goal
of achieving fusion ignition in FY 2010.
The Advanced Simulation and Computing
Campaign request for FY 2005 is $741.3
million,
an increase of nearly three
percent over FY 2004. Working with IBM
and Cray Research, the program expects
delivery of Red Storm in FY 2004 and
Purple in FY 2005. These will be the
world’s fastest machines, operating at 40
and 100 Teraops, respectively, and they
will continue to revolutionize
supercomputer capabilities and
three-dimensional modeling. Having these
machines on-line will begin to redress the
capacity and capability issues raised in
the September 2003 JASONs report required
by the Congress.
The
NPR recognized a need, over the long run,
for a Modern Pit Facility (MPF) to support
the pit manufacturing needs of the entire
stockpile. NNSA’s FY 2005 request for the
Pit Manufacturing Campaign is $336.5
million, an increase of 13 percent over FY
2004, but with some changes since the last
budget request. We delayed the final
environmental impact statement (EIS) for
the MPF in order to address Congressional
concerns that it is premature to pursue
further decisions on an MPF at this time.
The decision to delay the final EIS also
delays identification of a preferred site
for constructing the MPF.
This
decision will in no way affect the W88 pit
manufacturing and recertification program
underway at Los Alamos, which is
reestablishing the technological base to
manufacture pits and which thereby will
inform many of the technology decisions
which will be contained in the eventual
MPF design.
Readiness Campaigns are requested at
$280.1 million in FY 2005, a decrease of
about 14 percent. The decrease is
attributable mainly to continuing progress
in construction of the Tritium Extraction
Facility that is funded within this
account.
NNSA’s
Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities
activities operate and maintain current
facilities and ensure the long-term
vitality of the NNSA complex through a
multi-year program of infrastructure
construction. About $1.5 billion is
requested for these efforts, a slight
decrease from FY 2004 that is attributable
to a 20 percent decline in funding needed
to support line-item construction project
schedules. Three new construction starts
are requested.
In FY
2005 the President’s budget provides a
total of $201.3 million for the Office of
Secure Transportation, which is
responsible for meeting the Department’s
transportation requirements for nuclear
weapons, components, special nuclear
materials and waste shipments.
The
remainder of the Weapons Activities
appropriation funding is for Nuclear
Weapons Incident Response, Facilities and
Infrastructure Recapitalization, and
Safeguards and Security, discussed earlier
in this statement.
DEFENSE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
The
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Program
works to prevent the spread of nuclear
weapons and materials to terrorist
organizations and rogue states. The
Administration is requesting $1.35 billion
to support activities to reduce the global
weapons of mass destruction proliferation
threat, about a one percent increase over
comparable FY 2004 activities. This
reflects a leveling off of growth in these
important programs that have increased
over 60 percent in the past four years.
Given recent threats to the
United States, it has become increasingly
clear that protecting and securing nuclear
materials and detecting nuclear and
radioactive material at foreign ports,
airports, and border crossings is a very
high priority. The Administration’s
leadership in the Global Partnership is
one way that we are trying to address
these issues. The FY 2005 request for
programs supporting the Partnership is
$439 million. This includes an FY 2005
request of $238 million for the
International Nuclear Material Protection
and Cooperation (MPC&A) Program, which
supports Second Line of Defense activities
and the Mega-ports Program. The
Mega-ports Program was jump-started with
$99 million appropriated in FY 2003.
Progress is continuing, and with the $15
million requested in FY 2005, we will have
work underway or complete at 9 of the 15
planned international ports. The $15
million in FY 2005 is requested to train
law enforcement officials and equip key
international ports with radiation
detection equipment to detect, deter, and
interdict illicit trafficking of nuclear
and other radioactive materials. We are
scheduled to complete work at ports in
Greece and the
Netherlands by the summer
of 2004. We have made a number of
security improvements to Nuclear Navy
sites in Russia and we are now focusing
resources on securing Strategic Rocket
Forces sites. In addition to this work,
we are also pursuing a dialogue with
countries we believe are of particular
concern. We hope that these activities
will lead to broader MPC&A cooperation in
the coming years.
The largest activity funded
by this appropriation is the Fissile
Materials Disposition program. We are
working to design and build facilities to
dispose of inventories of surplus
U.S. weapons-grade
plutonium and highly-enriched uranium, and
supporting concurrent efforts in Russia to
obtain reciprocal disposition of similar
materials.
One of the key obstacles
encountered this year is a disagreement
with Russia regarding liability protection
for plutonium disposition work performed
in that country. This has resulted in a
ten-month delay in the planned start of
construction of a MOX Facility in Russia
as well as a similar facility in the
United States. The liability issue is
being worked at high levels of the
Administration. The President’s FY 2005
budget request seeks $649 million for this
program to begin construction of both the
U.S. and Russian MOX facilities in May
2005, as we work to resolve the liability
issue by this spring. Our outyear funding
profiles reflect the Administration’s full
commitment for proceeding with plutonium
disposition.
Not only are we pursuing
the disposition of weapons-grade plutonium
but also we are working hard to stop more
from being produced. NNSA has assumed the
responsibility from the DOD for shutting
down the last three plutonium production
reactors in Russia and replacing them with
fossil fuel plants by 2008 and 2011.
This will result in the cessation of the
annual production of 1.2 metric tons of
weapons-grade plutonium. Under the
Elimination of Weapons-Grade Plutonium
Production Program, we have selected the
Washington Group International and
Raytheon Technical Services to provide
oversight for Russian contractors who will
actually be performing the work. The FY
2005 request for this effort is $50.1
million.
In FY 2005, NNSA assumes
responsibility for the Off-site Source
Recovery Project from the Office of
Environmental Management. The requested
program funding is $5.6 million, with a
projected cost of about $40 million over
the next five years to substantially
reduce the risk of these source materials
being used for radiological dispersion
devices. The program works closely with
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
prioritize source recovery.
The Russian reactor safety
efforts under the International Nuclear
Safety Program were completed successfully
in 2003. The remaining $4 million for
emergency management and cooperation
efforts was shifted to the
Nonproliferation and International
Security Program. These funds provide for
the orderly shutdown of the BN 350 reactor
in Kazakhstan ($1.5 million) and continue
activities to strengthen international
emergency cooperation and communications
($2.5 million). The Accelerated Materials
Disposition initiative was not supported
by the Congress in FY 2004 and in
consideration of overall NNSA priorities,
is not requested in the FY 2005 budget or
outyears.
NAVAL
REACTORS
The
NNSA is requesting $798 million for the
Naval Reactors Program in FY 2005, an
increase of about 4 percent. This
program continues to be a prime example of
how to manage unforgiving and complex
technology. The Naval Reactors Program
provides safe and reliable nuclear
reactors to power the Navy’s warships. It
is responsible for all naval nuclear
propulsion work, beginning with technology
development, through reactor operations,
and ultimately to reactor plant disposal.
The budget increase will support 70
percent completion of the design of the
next generation nuclear reactor on an
aircraft carrier, and continue work on the
Transformational Technology Core, which
will deliver a significant energy increase
to future submarines, resulting in greater
operational ability and flexibility. The
request includes $6.2 million for a new
construction start, the Materials
Development Facility Building, in
Schenectady, NY. The TTC facility is
estimated at $20.4 million, and it is
expected to be completed in 2008.
OFFICE OF THE
ADMINISTRATOR
NNSA is in the final
implementation phase of a re-engineering
effort that follows the principles of the
President’s Management Agenda to
modernize, integrate, and streamline
operations. As a result, at the end of FY
2004, NNSA will achieve its goal of a 15
percent reduction in federal personnel
since FY 2002. It is likely that the
Congress will receive a
request for reprogramming
in FY 2004 to fund the remainder of these
realignment and reengineering activities.
The
FY 2005 budget request of $333.7 million
is about 1 percent below the FY 2004
appropriation. This reflects cost
avoidance due to reduction of about 300
positions since 2002, and no further
request for incremental funding needed to
accomplish re-engineering in NNSA HQ and
field organizations. The budget request
assumes that personnel reductions are
achieved, restructuring finished, and
associated employee transfers are complete
at the end of FY 2004.
The
Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation (NN) and
Nuclear Weapons Incident Response programs
have been excluded from staff reductions
due to increased program requirements in
those areas. NNSA
is not requesting a separate funding
control for the Office of Defense Nuclear
Nonproliferation because it is no longer
necessary to assure that Federal hiring
goals are met for these activities that
are experiencing rapid mission growth.
Based on hiring to date in FY 2004, it is
projected that this organization will meet
or exceed its managed staffing plan goal
of 244 by FY 2005. A single funding
control for the appropriation is necessary
to facilitate NNSA’s corporate efforts to
rebalance the NN ‘s office transition from
reliance on support service contractors to
permanent Federal staff.
MANAGEMENT
ISSUES
I
would like to conclude by discussing some
of NNSA’s management challenges and
successes. We are all aware of the
management difficulties that beset the
weapons laboratories last year. The
contractors and NNSA/DOE have made many
changes to the laboratories’ management
and reporting/oversight requirements in
response to the problems. Soon their
contracts are coming up for renewal.
Secretary Abraham has outlined the
Department’s strategy for competing the
Management and Operating contracts for our
nuclear design labs in accordance with
Section 301 of the Energy and Water
Development Appropriations Act, FY 2004
(Public Law 108-137). On April 30, 2003,
the Secretary announced that we intend to
compete the Los Alamos National Laboratory
contract on a full and open basis to have
a contract in place by September 30, 2005,
when the old contract expires.
On
January 21, 2004, the Secretary reiterated
his decision concerning Los Alamos
National Laboratory. At that time, he
also announced his decision to compete the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
contract, as well as three other DOE
laboratories, but indicated that the
precise timing and form of these
competitions were under consideration.
NNSA, with the concurrence
of the Secretary, is establishing a Source
Evaluation Board (SEB) for the Los Alamos
competition. I have named Tyler Przybylek
as the Chairman of that SEB and he is in
the process of identifying members and
advisers to the SEB. We see no obstacle
to meeting the Secretary’s schedule for
competing and awarding a new contract or
managing Los Alamos.
On the “success” side, I am
proud that the Department of Energy was
ranked first among cabinet-level
agencies in the most recent scorecard to
assess implementation of the President’s
Management Agenda. The scorecard, which
evaluates agency performance in the areas
of human capital, competitive sourcing,
financial management, e-Government, and
budget/performance integration, was issued
by OMB. We at NNSA take very seriously
the responsibility to manage the resources
of the American people effectively and I
am glad that our management efforts are
achieving such results.
CONCLUSION
In
conclusion, I am confident that we are
headed in the right direction. Our budget
request will support continuing our
progress in protecting and certifying our
nuclear deterrent, reducing the global
danger from proliferation and weapons of
mass destruction, and enhancing the force
projection capabilities of the U.S.
nuclear Navy. It will enable us to
continue to maintain the safety and
security of our people, information,
materials, and infrastructure. Above all,
it will meet the national security needs
of the United States of the 21st century.
Mr.
Chairman, this concludes my statement. A
statistical appendix follows that contains
the budget figures supporting our
request. My colleagues and I would be
pleased to answer any questions on the
justification for the requested budget.
