HOUSE E&C COMMITTEE TO INVESTIGATE WEAPONS COMPLEX MANAGEMENT

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is planning to take a closer look at the management of the nuclear weapons complex in the wake of the July 28 security breach at the Y-12 National Security Complex. In a Feb. 15 letter to Energy Secretary Steven Chu, committee chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and ranking member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) as well as senior leaders on the panel’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee said they planned to hold a hearing March 13 to examine existing management and governance issues across the complex. The committee, which held a hearing on the Y-12 security breach in September and has raised concerns about the effectiveness of contractor self assessment systems, said “information and assessments” it has reviewed since the security breach have highlighted physical security shortcomings at Department of Energy facilities that house Category I and II special nuclear material. “Information provided to the Committee indicates that governance and security culture issues throughout the Department’s nuclear operations, from headquarters to the site offices, and within the contractor community, have contributed to these management challenges,” the lawmakers wrote.

 

The lawmakers also requested more information about the agency’s response to the security breach, asking the Energy Secretary for a variety of documents, including all internal and external reviews of safety and security and information associated with those studies, DOE’s plans to respond to those studies, and actions DOE plans to take to revise or change safety and security reforms that have already been implemented. DOE began streamlining safety and security directives under Chu.