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DOE Threat Reduction Funding Cut, Programs Reorganized
On November 12, President George W. Bush signed into law a bill
that provides less money for Energy Department non-proliferation
efforts than was allocated last year, but more than his administration
had asked for in its budget request. The law also reorganizes several
department threat reduction initiatives.
The fiscal year 2002 energy and water appropriations act allocates
about $804 million for the Energy Department’s Defense Nuclear
Non-Proliferation programs, approximately $70 million lower than
2001 funding levels but about $30 million higher than the administration
had requested for the programs earlier this year. (See ACT,
May 2001.) The administration’s proposed cuts had been
targeted primarily at threat reduction efforts in Russia, which
make up about one-third of the department’s nuclear non-proliferation
budget.
For the Material Protection, Control, and Accounting (MPC&A)
program, which upgrades security at vulnerable fissile-material
and weapons-storage sites, the administration requested only $138.8
million for 2002, well below 2001 funding levels. But Congress appropriated
$173 million, essentially restoring, but not increasing, as some
lawmakers had hoped, funding to 2001 levels.
That allocation includes $4 million for the Second Line of Defense
program, which helps Russia’s customs service detect illicit
nuclear transfers across Russian borders, effectively merging the
initiative with the MPC&A program. During an interview, an Energy
Department official indicated that the reorganization was intended
to facilitate “improved coordination” and capitalize on
“synergies” between the programs.
The law also calls for joint management of the Nuclear Cities Initiative
and the Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention, both of which
seek to provide alternative employment for Russian weapons scientists
so they do not sell their services to states or groups trying to
acquire weapons of mass destruction. In addition, the law appropriates
a lump sum for the two programs, which the Energy Department will
have to divide between the initiatives. The law also significantly
increases funding for these two efforts beyond the administration’s
original $29 million request, allocating $42 million. The General
Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, had recommended
in May that a merger of the programs be considered “to achieve
potential cost savings and other efficiencies.” (See
ACT, June 2001.)
Administration officials have made it clear that, upon conclusion
of an ongoing review they are conducting, funding for the Energy
Department’s threat reduction programs could be changed and
programs could be further reorganized. Announced by Bush in March
after suggested cuts to the programs drew congressional ire, the
review is nearing completion, according to administration officials.
When the review was launched, an administration official had indicated
it would last six to eight weeks. (See ACT,
April 2001.)
Lawmakers have also sought to boost Energy Department threat reduction
funding with money from the $40 billion emergency supplemental spending
bill submitted to Congress after the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Although those efforts have been unsuccessful to date, some lawmakers
still appear to hold out hope that the department’s 2002 threat
reduction appropriations can be boosted.
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