[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 9]
[House]
[Pages 12145-12146]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            WHY WE NEED TO ABOLISH THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Toomey). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Tiahrt) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ensure that H.R. 1649, the 
act to abolish the Department of Energy, does not get pushed behind a 
copy machine like two highly classified secret hard disk drives were 
recently.
  In 1995, I was the leader of the House task force that first 
introduced the Department of Energy Abolishment Act. Back then we 
highlighted four principal reasons why Congress needs to eliminate the 
Department of Energy. Listen to the same principles which still hold 
true:
  Number one, the DOE no longer serves as a core energy-related 
mission. In fact, less than 20 percent of the current Department of 
Energy budget is dedicated to energy-related activities.
  Number two, the Department of Energy is a failed cabinet level 
agency, unable to meet its most basic obligations.
  Number three, the Department of Energy has developed into a feeding 
trough for corporate welfare recipients.
  Number four, DOE wastes billions of taxpayer dollars annually.
  These four principles still stand true today; and unfortunately, now 
we can add a fifth principle, a reason why Congress must abolish this 
agency. That reason is that the Department of Energy has become and 
continues to be a serious threat to the security of this Nation.
  First it was Chinagate, and now we learn that highly classified and 
secret materials were missing for 2 months until recently discovered 
behind a copying machine.
  The Department of Energy has become a threat to our national 
security. In 1998 the House of Representatives created a Select 
Committee on U.S. National Security and Military and Commercial 
Concerns with China, also known as the Cox Committee. I have with me a 
copy of one of three volumes of the Cox report I am holding in my hand 
outlining problems within the Department of Energy.
  The Cox Committee issued 38 recommendations in response to their 
conclusion that the security at the Department of Energy nuclear 
laboratories in Sandia, Los Alamos, and Lawrence Livermore do not meet 
even the minimal standards, and that China has stolen design 
information on our Nation's most advanced thermonuclear weapons.
  Into the House Cox Committee, President Clinton appointed former 
Senator Warren Rudman, chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Advisory 
Board, to also evaluate security at the DOE labs. In my hand I have 
that report that was submitted by Senator Rudman. It has at the top 
``science at its best, security at its worst.''
  Some of the examples of the Department of Energy mismanagement as 
reported by the Rudman report is, one, a Department of Energy employee 
was dead for 11 months before the security officials realized that four 
classified documents were still assigned to him. It also took 45 months 
to fix a broken doorknob that was stuck in an open position, allowing 
access to classified nuclear information. Department of Energy 
officials also took 35 months to write a work report to replace a lock 
at a weapons lab facility which contained classified information. 
Several months passed before the security audit team discovered that a 
main telephone frame door at a weapons lab had been forced open and the 
lock had been destroyed.
  During this Congress, in separate reports, Congressman Cox and 
Senator Rudman have reached the same conclusion regarding the 
Department of Energy: the agency is incapable of reforming itself and 
has a culture of waste, fraud and abuse.
  What does Secretary Richardson have to say about these problems? On 
March 9, 1999, Secretary Richardson said, ``Security at the labs right 
now is good.''
  On March 14, 1999, Secretary Richardson said, ``We have top notch 
security right now in our national labs.'' He also said on that day, 
``Our labs are very security conscious now.'' On March 16 he said, 
``Security is being tightened dramatically at the labs. This should not 
happen again.''
  What Bill Richardson said yesterday was, ``What I did not take into 
account was that the lab culture needs more time to be changed. I did 
not take into account the human element,'' on Meet the Press on June 
18, 2000.
  I think this is the final straw, Mr. Speaker. On May 7, highly 
classified computer disks containing nuclear secrets were discovered 
missing from the Department of Energy lab in Los Alamos. Although the 
disappearance was discovered on May 7, it was not until 24 days later 
that the director of the lab was notified, along with the Department of 
Energy Secretary, Bill Richardson and the FBI. To date, no one has been 
fired or taken off the payroll.
  While I recognize progress in the announcement this week by chairman 
of

[[Page 12146]]

the Senate Committee on Armed Services of his intentions to introduce 
legislation to examine whether the nuclear weapons program should be 
turned over to the Department of Defense, what we do not need is 
another commission telling us what we already know.
  The Department of Energy is a threat to our national security, and 
all defense-related functions currently housed within the Department of 
Energy should be transferred to the Department of Defense.
  Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I believe it is time to turn out the 
lights at the Department of Energy by passing H.R. 1649.

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