§7383 Commission on Safeguards, Security, and Counterintelligence at Department of Energy Facilities

Summary

Creates a nine-member commission to review safeguards, security, and counterintelligence at Department of Energy facilities. Nine people with experience in nuclear security, information classification, or counterintelligence will be chosen: two by the Senate Armed Services Committee chair (with the committee’s ranking member), one by the Senate ranking member (with the chair), two by the House Armed Services Committee chair (with the ranking member), one by the House ranking member (with the chair), one by the Secretary of Defense, one by the Director of the FBI, and one by the Director of Central Intelligence. Members serve four-year terms, except three initial seats that serve two years (one of the Senate-chair appointees, one of the House-chair appointees, and the Secretary of Defense appointee). Vacancies are filled the same way. After five people are named, the Senate Armed Services chair, working with the House Armed Services chair, must pick the commission’s chair from among the two members the Senate chair appointed. The first members had to be named within 60 days after October 5, 1999. The group must set its own meeting rules, meet at least every three months, and may start work once the chair is chosen. The commission must check how well DOE facilities protect sensitive information, processes, and activities and must recommend fixes. Work includes reviewing design-threat documents and rules, visiting sites, looking into problems raised in DOE reports, reviewing laws and DOE orders, and doing other tasks the Secretary of Energy finds appropriate. Each year by February 15 the commission must send an unclassified report (with a classified annex if needed) to the Secretary of Energy and to the Armed Services Committees, describing its work and proposing changes. Nonfederal members are paid at the daily rate equal to Executive Schedule Level V; federal members serve without extra pay. Travel costs are covered at standard rates. The commission can hire staff outside normal civil service rules and set their pay outside the General Schedule. Federal employees can be detailed to the commission without losing status. Members and staff must have proper security clearances. One set of civil service rules (chapter 10 of title 5) does not apply. The Secretary of Energy must provide up to $1,000,000 from specified funds, and that money stays available until spent.