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106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 2032

To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to establish a Nuclear

Security Administration and an Office of Under Secretary for National

Security in the Department of Energy.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 7, 1999

Mr. THORNBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the

Committee on Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Armed

Services, and Science, for a period to be subsequently determined by the

Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within

the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

A BILL

To amend the Department of Energy Organization Act to

establish a Nuclear Security Administration and an

Office of Under Secretary for National Security in the

Department of Energy.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Energy Orga5 nization Act is amended by inserting after section 212 (42

6 U.S.C. 7143) the following new section:
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1 ‘‘NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION

2 ‘‘SEC. 213. (a) There shall be within the Department

3 an agency to be known as the Nuclear Security Adminis4 tration, to be headed by an Administrator, who shall re5 port directly to, and shall be accountable directly to, the

6 Secretary. The Secretary may not delegate to any Depart7 ment official the duty to supervise the Administrator.

8 ‘‘(b)(1) The Under Secretary for National Security

9 shall serve as the Administrator.

10 ‘‘(2) The Administrator shall be responsible for the

11 executive and administrative operation of the functions as12 signed to the Administration, including functions with re13 spect to (A) the selection, appointment, and fixing of the

14 compensation of such personnel as the Administrator con15 siders necessary, (B) the supervision of personnel em16 ployed by or assigned to the Administration, (C) the dis17 tribution of business among personnel and among admin18 istrative units of the Administration, and (D) the procure19 ment of services of experts and consultants in accordance

20 with section 3109 of title 5, United States Code. The Sec21 retary shall provide to the Administrator such support and

22 facilities as the Administrator determines are needed to

23 carry out the functions of the Administration.

24 ‘‘(c)(1) The personnel of the Administration, in car25 rying out any function assigned to the Administrator, shall
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1 be responsible to, and subject to the supervision and direc2 tion of, the Administrator and shall not be responsible to,

3 or subject to the supervision or direction of, any officer,

4 employee, or agent of any other part of the Department

5 of Energy.

6 ‘‘(2) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘per7 sonnel of the Administration’ means each officer or em8 ployee within the Department of Energy, and each officer

9 or employee of any contractor of the Department, whose—

10 ‘‘(A) responsibilities include carrying out a

11 function assigned to the Administrator; or

12 ‘‘(B) employment is funded under the Weapons

13 Activities budget function of the Department.

14 ‘‘(d)(1) The Administrator shall (A) manage a pro15 gram designed to ensure the safety and reliability of the

16 nuclear weapons stockpile, (B) direct the nuclear weapons

17 production facilities and the national laboratories, and (C)

18 be primarily responsible for other national security func19 tions of the Department of Energy involving nuclear weap20 ons research and development.

21 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall assign to the Administrator

22 direct authority over, and responsibility for, the nuclear

23 weapons production facilities and the national labora24 tories. The functions assigned to the Administrator with

25 respect to the nuclear weapons production facilities and
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1 the national laboratories shall include authority over, and

2 responsibility for, the following:

3 ‘‘(A) Strategic management.

4 ‘‘(B) Policy development and guidance.

5 ‘‘(C) Budget formulation and guidance.

6 ‘‘(D) Resource requirements determination and

7 allocation.

8 ‘‘(E) Program management.

9 ‘‘(F) Safeguard and security operations.

10 ‘‘(G) Emergency management.

11 ‘‘(H) Integrated safety management.

12 ‘‘(I) Environment, safety, and health oper13 ations.

14 ‘‘(J) Administration of contracts to manage and

15 operate the nuclear weapons production facilities

16 and the national laboratories.

17 ‘‘(K) Oversight.

18 ‘‘(L) Relationships within the Department of

19 Energy and with other Federal agencies, the Con20 gress, State, tribal, and local governments, and the

21 public.

22 ‘‘(M) Each of the functions described in sub23 section (f).

24 ‘‘(e) The head of each nuclear weapons production

25 facility and of each national laboratory shall report di-
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1 rectly to, and be accountable directly to, the Adminis2 trator.

3 ‘‘(f) The Administrator may delegate functions as4 signed under subsection (d)(2) only within the head5 quarters office of the Administrator, except that the Ad6 ministrator may delegate to the head of a specified oper7 ations office functions including providing or supporting

8 the following activities at a nuclear weapons production

9 facility or a national laboratory:

10 ‘‘(1) Operational activities.

11 ‘‘(2) Program execution.

12 ‘‘(3) Personnel.

13 ‘‘(4) Contracting and procurement.

14 ‘‘(5) Facility operations oversight.

15 ‘‘(6) Integration of production and research and

16 development activities.

17 ‘‘(7) Interaction with other Federal agencies,

18 State, tribal, and local governments, and the public.

19 ‘‘(g) The head of a specified operations office, in car20 rying out any function delegated under subsection (f) to

21 that head of that specified operations office, shall report

22 directly to, and be accountable directly to, the Adminis23 trator.

24 ‘‘(h) In each annual authorization and appropriation

25 request under this Act, the Secretary shall identify the
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1 portion thereof intended for the support of the Adminis2 tration and include a statement by the Administrator

3 showing (1) the amount requested by the Administrator

4 in the budgetary presentation to the Secretary and the Of5 fice of Management and Budget, and (2) an assessment

6 of the budgetary needs of the Administration. Whenever

7 the Administrator submits to the Secretary, the President,

8 or the Office of Management and Budget any legislative

9 recommendation or testimony, or comments on legislation

10 prepared for submission to the Congress, the Adminis11 trator shall concurrently transmit a copy thereof to the

12 appropriate committees of the Congress.

13 ‘‘(i) This section may not be construed to limit or

14 restrict the ability of a national laboratory to carry out

15 research and development activities for an entity within

16 the Department of Energy other than the Administration

17 or for any other Federal or non-Federal entity.

18 ‘‘(j) As used in this section:

19 ‘‘(1) The term ‘nuclear weapons production fa20 cility’ means any of the following facilities:

21 ‘‘(A) The Kansas City Plant, Kansas City,

22 Missouri.

23 ‘‘(B) The Pantex Plant, Amarillo, Texas.

24 ‘‘(C) The Y–12 Plant, Oak Ridge, Ten25 nessee.
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1 ‘‘(D) The tritium operations facilities at

2 the Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Caro3 lina.

4 ‘‘(E) The Nevada Test Site, Nevada.

5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘national laboratory’ means any

6 of the following laboratories:

7 ‘‘(A) The Los Alamos National Labora8 tory, Los Alamos, New Mexico.

9 ‘‘(B) The Lawrence Livermore National

10 Laboratory, Livermore, California.

11 ‘‘(C) The Sandia National Laboratories,

12 Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, Cali13 fornia.

14 ‘‘(3) The term ‘specified operations office’

15 means any of the following operations offices of the

16 Department of Energy:

17 ‘‘(A) Albuquerque Operations Office, Albu18 querque, New Mexico.

19 ‘‘(B) Oak Ridge Operations Office, Oak

20 Ridge, Tennessee.

21 ‘‘(C) Oakland Operations Office, Oakland,

22 California.

23 ‘‘(D) Nevada Operations Office, Nevada

24 Test Site, Las Vegas, Nevada.
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1 ‘‘(E) Savannah River Operations Office,

2 Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina.’’.

3 (b) UNDER SECRETARY FOR NATIONAL SECURITY.—

4 Section 202 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 7132) is amended by

5 adding at the end the following new subsection:

6 ‘‘(c)(1) There shall be in the Department an Under

7 Secretary for National Security, who shall be appointed

8 by the President, by and with the advice and consent of

9 the Senate, and who shall perform such functions and du10 ties as the Secretary shall prescribe. Notwithstanding sec11 tion 203(a), the Secretary shall assign to the Under Sec12 retary for National Security the functions described in sec13 tion 203(a)(5).

14 ‘‘(2) The Under Secretary for National Security shall

15 be a person who, by reason of professional background and

16 experience, is specially qualified—

17 ‘‘(A) to manage a program designed to ensure

18 the safety and reliability of the nuclear weapons

19 stockpile;

20 ‘‘(B) to manage the nuclear weapons production

21 facilities and the national laboratories; and

22 ‘‘(C) to carry out the functions of the Adminis23 trator of the Nuclear Security Administration.’’.

24 (c) TRANSITION PROVISION.—The Assistant Sec25 retary assigned the functions under section 203(a)(5) of
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1 such Act on the date before the date of the enactment

2 of this Act shall serve as the Under Secretary for National

3 Security until an Under Secretary for National Security

4 is appointed under section 202(c) of such Act.

5 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 203(a) of

6 such Act is amended by striking ‘‘eight’’ and inserting

7 ‘‘seven’’.

8 (e) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents

9 in the first section of such Act is amended by inserting

10 after the item relating to section 212 the following new

11 item:

‘‘Sec. 213. Nuclear Security Administration.’’.

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