mitted to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union,
and ordered to be printed
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in boldface roman]
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 14, 2000]
A BILL
To ensure that the Department of Energy has appropriate
mechanisms to independently assess the effectiveness of
its policy and site performance in the areas of safeguards
and security and cyber security.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Department of Energy
Security Oversight Improvement Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds that—
(1) internal Department of Energy oversight of
safeguards and security has suffered over the years
from inconsistent application, lack of senior manage-
ment attention, reduced resources, and overlapping
and conflicting roles and responsibilities among var-
ious Department offices;
(2) the Department of Energy is in need of a
statutorily-based independent security oversight office
with the responsibility to regularly assess the effective-
ness of the Department’s policy and site performance
in the area of safeguards and security, including com-
puter security, and report to the Secretary on such
findings annually;
(3) the Department of Energy’s oversight of secu-
rity at its sites should be streamlined to reduce over-
lapping and redundant oversight, to improve account-
ability, and to ensure greater consistency in applica-
tion, findings, and reporting of results; and
(4) it is appropriate to establish a single, inde-
pendent security oversight office within the Depart-
ment of Energy, without prejudice to the continued
compliance assurance activities conducted at the De-
partment site level.
SEC. 3. OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT SECURITY OVERSIGHT.
(a) OFFICE.—The Secretary of Energy shall maintain
an Office of Independent Security Oversight, which shall
be headed by a Director appointed by the Secretary without
regard to political affiliation and solely on the basis of in-
tegrity and demonstrated ability in the oversight and eval-
uation of security for nuclear and classified programs. The
Director shall report directly to and be under the general
supervision of the Secretary, but the Director shall not re-
port to or be subject to supervision by any other office or
officer of the Department of Energy. The Secretary shall
not prevent, prohibit, or delay the Director from initiating,
carrying out, or completing any inspection, evaluation, or
report undertaken pursuant to this Act. Such Office shall
be responsible for carrying out the missions and functions
described in subsections (c) and (d), but the Office shall
have no authority to establish or require the implementa-
tion of any change to the policies, programs, or practices
of the Department of Energy.
(b) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In addition to em-
ployees of the Department of Energy, the Director is author-
ized to utilize such experts and consultants as the Director
deems appropriate. For such purposes, the Director may
procure temporary and intermittent services under section
3109(b) of title 5, United States Code. Upon request of the
Director, the head of any Federal agency is authorized to
detail, on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel of such
agency to the Director to assist the Director in carrying
out functions under this section.
(c) MISSION.—The Office of Independent Security
Oversight shall be responsible for the independent evalua-
tion of the effectiveness of safeguards and security (includ-
ing computer security) policies, programs, and practices
throughout the Department of Energy, including the Na-
tional Nuclear Security Administration. The Office shall
identify security weaknesses, make recommendations to the
Secretary for improvement, and review the effectiveness and
timeliness of corrective actions taken by the Department.
(d) FUNCTIONS.—The Office of Independent Security
Oversight shall perform the following functions:
(1) Conduct regular evaluations of safeguards
and security programs at Department of Energy sites
that have significant amounts of special nuclear ma-
terial, classified information, or other security inter-
ests. The scope of the evaluations shall include all as-
pects of safeguards and security, including physical
protection of special nuclear material, accountability
of special nuclear material, protection of classified
and sensitive information, classified and unclassified
computer security, personnel security, and inter-
actions with foreign nationals.
(2) Issue reports to the Secretary that clearly
identify specific findings relating to security weak-
nesses, and make recommendations for improvement.
(3) Perform timely followup reviews to ensure
that any corrective actions implemented by the De-
partment are effective.
(4) Evaluate and assess Department of Energy
policies related to safeguards and security.
(5) Develop recommendations and opportunities
for improving safeguards and security policies, pro-
grams, and practices for submittal to the Secretary.
(6) Any other function the Secretary considers
appropriate and consistent with the mission described
in subsection (c).
(e) TIMING OF REGULAR EVALUATIONS.—
(1) GENERAL
RULE.—Except as provided in
paragraph (2), evaluations conducted under sub-
section (d)(1) shall occur at least once every 2 years.
(2) COMPUTER SECURITY EVALUATIONS.—Eval-
uations conducted under subsection (d)(1) with re-
spect to classified and unclassified computer security
shall occur at least once every 18 months.
(f) ACCESS TO INFORMATION.—In carrying out this
section, the Director shall have access to all records and per-
sonnel of the Department concerning its safeguards and se-
curity programs, including classified and unclassified com-
puter security programs.
SEC. 4. REPORTS.
(a) REPORT BY OFFICE.—The Office of Independent
Security Oversight shall, before February 15 of each year,
transmit to the Secretary of Energy an unclassified report,
with a classified appendix if requested or necessary, sum-
marizing the activities of the Office during the immediately
preceding calendar year. Such report shall include—
(1) a summary of each significant report made
to the Secretary pursuant to this Act during the re-
porting period, including a description of key security
findings contained in those reports;
(2) the adequacy of corrective actions, if any,
taken by the Department to address significant prob-
lems and deficiencies;
(3) an identification of each significant problem
or deficiency described in previous annual reports on
which corrective action has not been effectively com-
pleted;
(4) a description and explanation of the reasons
for any significant revisions to security policy deci-
sions made during the reporting period; and
(5) a description of any significant security pol-
icy decision with which the Director is in disagree-
ment, along with an explanation of the reasons for
disagreement.
(b) REPORT BY SECRETARY.—The Secretary of Energy
shall, before March 15 of each year, transmit to the appro-
priate committees of Congress, without alteration, the Of-
fice’s annual report submitted under subsection (a), along
with an unclassified report, with a classified appendix if
requested or necessary, summarizing the Secretary’s re-
sponse thereto. Such report from the Secretary shall
include—
(1) a description of the Secretary’s response to
each significant report and security finding made to
the Secretary pursuant to this Act during the report-
ing period;
(2) an explanation of the reasons for any failure
on the part of the Department of Energy to remedy
security findings identified by the Office in the cur-
rent annual report and previous annual reports; and
(3) to the extent relevant, an explanation of how
the President’s budget submissions will impact the
ability of the Department to remedy unresolved secu-
rity findings identified by the Office in its annual re-
ports.
(c) PUBLIC AVAILABILITY.—Within 60 days after the
transmission of the annual reports to the Congress under
subsection (b), the Secretary of Energy shall make copies
of the unclassified portions of such reports available to the
public.
(d) SPECIAL REPORTS.—The Director of the Office of
Independent Security Oversight shall report immediately to
the Secretary of Energy whenever the Director becomes
aware of deficiencies relating to the security programs,
practices, or operations of the Department of Energy that
require an immediate response. The Secretary shall, within
7 calendar days after receiving a report under this sub-
section, notify the appropriate committees of Congress in
writing and explain the corrective actions taken to address
such deficiencies.
(e) CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY AND BRIEFINGS.—
The Director of the Office of Independent Security Over-
sight, whenever called to testify before any Committee of
Congress or to brief its Members or staff, shall provide the
Secretary of Energy with advance notice of the subject mat-
ter of that testimony or briefing, but shall provide the re-
quested information to the Congress without any further re-
view, clearance, or approval by any other official in the
Executive Branch.
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Nu-
clear Security Administration Security Over-
sight Improvement Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT SECURITY OVERSIGHT.
(a) OFFICE REQUIRED.—Subtitle B of the
National Nuclear Security Administration Act
(title XXXII of Public Law 106–65; 113 Stat.
953; 50 U.S.C. 2401 et seq.) is amended by in-
serting at the end the following new section:
‘‘SEC. 3237. OFFICE OF INDEPENDENT SECURITY OVER-
SIGHT.
‘‘(a) OFFICE REQUIRED.—The Administrator
shall maintain an Office of Independent Secu-
rity Oversight, which shall be headed by a Di-
rector appointed by the Administrator with-
out regard to political affiliation and solely on
the basis of integrity and demonstrated abil-
ity in the oversight and evaluation of security
for nuclear and classified programs. The Di-
rector shall report directly to and be under
the general supervision of the Administrator,
but the Director shall not be subject to super-
vision by any other office or officer of the Ad-
ministration or of the Department of Energy.
Neither the Secretary of Energy nor the Ad-
ministrator shall prevent, prohibit, or delay
the Director from initiating, carrying out, or
completing any inspection, evaluation, or re-
port undertaken pursuant to this section or
from submitting to the Congress any such re-
port. Such Office shall be responsible for car-
rying out the missions and functions de-
scribed in subsections (c) and (d), but the Of-
fice shall have no authority to establish or re-
quire the implementation of any change to
the policies, programs, or practices of the Ad-
ministration.
‘‘(b) EXPERTS AND CONSULTANTS.—In addi-
tion to employees of the Administration, the
Director is authorized to utilize such experts
and consultants as the Director deems appro-
priate. For such purposes, the Director may
procure temporary and intermittent services
under section 3109(b) of title 5, United States
Code. Upon request of the Director, the head
of any Federal agency is authorized to detail,
on a reimbursable basis, any of the personnel
of such agency to the Director to assist the Di-
rector in carrying out functions under this
section.
‘‘(c) MISSION.—The Office of Independent
Security Oversight shall be responsible for
the independent evaluation of the effective-
ness of safeguards and security (including
computer security) policies, programs, and
practices of the Administration. The Office
shall identify security weaknesses, make rec-
ommendations to the Administrator for im-
provement, and review the effectiveness and
timeliness of corrective actions taken by the
Administration.
‘‘(d) 
FUNCTIONS.—The 
Office 
of 
Inde-
pendent Security Oversight shall perform the
following functions:
‘‘(1) Conduct regular evaluations of
safeguards and security programs at Ad-
ministration sites that have significant
amounts of special nuclear material, clas-
sified information, or other security in-
terests. The scope of the evaluations shall
include all aspects of safeguards and se-
curity, including physical protection of
special nuclear material, accountability
of special nuclear material, protection of
classified and sensitive information, clas-
sified and unclassified computer security,
personnel security, and interactions with
foreign nationals.
‘‘(2) Issue reports to the Adminis-
trator that clearly identify specific find-
ings relating to security weaknesses, and
make recommendations for improvement.
‘‘(3) Perform timely followup reviews
to assess the effectiveness of any correc-
tive actions implemented by the Adminis-
tration.
‘‘(4) Evaluate and assess Administra-
tion policies related to safeguards and se-
curity.
‘‘(5) Develop recommendations and
opportunities for improving safeguards
and security policies, programs, and
practices for submittal to the Adminis-
trator.
‘‘(6) Any other function the Adminis-
trator considers appropriate and con-
sistent with the mission described in sub-
section (c).
‘‘(e) TIMING OF REGULAR EVALUATIONS.—
‘‘(1) GENERAL
RULE.—Except as pro-
vided in paragraph (2), evaluations con-
ducted 
under 
subsection 
(d)(1) 
shall
occur at least once every two years.
‘‘(2) 
COMPUTER
SECURITY
EVALUA-
TIONS.—Evaluations 
conducted 
under
subsection (d)(1) with respect to classi-
fied and unclassified computer security
shall occur at least once every 18 months.