POGO Denounces Defense Authorization Conference Committee Dropping DOE Labs from the BRAC Process

The Senate and House Conference Committee has dropped DOE nuclear weapons facilities from consideration in the Base Realignment And Closure Commission (BRAC) process. This Commission is charged with consolidating and streamlining bloated Cold War facilities. The Bush Administration has supported including DOE facilities in the BRAC process.

"While some Members of Congress are bragging about their ability to protect their nuclear pork, they are in fact inflicting the public with multi-billion dollar money pits that are at the same time targets for terrorist attacks and the sources of safety and environmental risks," stated Danielle Brian, Executive Director of the Project On Government Oversight (POGO).

POGO's October 2001 report found DOE nuclear weapons facilities failed to protect nuclear materials from mock terrorists attacks during security tests more than 50% of the time. Some of these facilities are not only redundant, but they no longer have a national security mission. One of POGO's solutions is to consolidate nuclear materials and close unnecessary facilities to reduce the threat of terrorist attack and save the taxpayers billions of dollars.

Click on the link to view a copy of POGO's recently released report, "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Security At Risk."