Managing Change in the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex

The Department of Energy's (DOE) problem-plagued nuclear weapons research, development, testing and production complex is managed primarily by the Office of Defense Programs. DOE historically defined the mission of its nuclear weapons program as the research, development, testing and production of nuclear warheads and bombs of the type and quantity "ordered" by its primary "customer," the Department of Defense. DOE has among its contractors the best nuclear weapons scientists and designers in the world, but there are no new nuclear weapons on order from the Department of Defense, nor are such orders likely to be forthcoming in the future. As that program wanes, the environmental cleanup and waste management budget burgeons. President Ronald Reagan repeatedly declared his desire to abolish DOE and often denigrated, at least implicitly, federal public service. Much of DOE's troubles can be traced to its historic lack of accountability to federal, state and local environmental laws which govern private industry.