The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Institutional Plan FY1999-2003 highlights that this is a time of outstanding technical accomplishments and tremendous challenges at the Laboratory. The challenges we face arise from the need for major scientific and technical advances to attain DOE's goals in national security, energy resources, environmental quality, and science and technology. Livermore's activities during this institutional planning period will help the Department to achieve success in its missions, and in the process, set the course for the Laboratory's programs in the early part of the 21st century. The mission of Livermore is clear.
National security is our defining responsibility.
As one of the laboratories that designed the weapons in the stockpile, Livermore is a principal participant in the Stockpile Stewardship Program. It is our responsibility, together with Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories, to provide accurate assessments of safety, security, and reliability of each weapon system. These assessments support a process of annual certification of the stockpile to the President by the Secretaries of Defense and Energy. The third annual certification was completed in December 1998. Livermore's national security responsibilities extend beyond stockpile stewardship.