Department of Energy: Framework Is Needed to Reevaluate Its Role and
Missions (Testimony, 06/21/95, GAO/T-RCED-95-232).

Now is an ideal time to reevaluate the Energy Department (DOE) and its
missions.  The agency's missions and priorities have changed so
dramatically over time that DOE is now very different from what it was
in 1977, when it was created in response to the energy crisis.  Energy
research, conservation, and policy-making were early DOE priorities.
Today, weapons production and environmental cleanup dominate its budget,
and new missions in science and industrial competitiveness have emerged.
Criteria developed by a DOE advisory panel and the National Academy of
Public Administration are available for systematically evaluating DOE's
missions and for determining if DOE should remain a Cabinet-level
department.  Because transferring missions and their related statutory
requirements from DOE to other agencies would have broad impacts, any
proposal to dismantle DOE should be considered as part of an overall
governmentwide restructuring effort.

--------------------------- Indexing Terms -----------------------------

 REPORTNUM:  T-RCED-95-232
     TITLE:  Department of Energy: Framework Is Needed to Reevaluate Its 
             Role and Missions
      DATE:  06/21/95
   SUBJECT:  Federal agency reorganization
             Agency missions
             Federal agencies
             Agency evaluation
             Energy research
             Laboratories
             Nuclear waste management
             Strategic planning
             Environmental monitoring
             Public administration
IDENTIFIER:  Strategic Petroleum Reserve
             DOE Strategic Alignment Initiative
             SPR
             
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