HOUSE ARMED SERVICES SUBCOMMITTEE ON STRATEGIC FORCES

TERRY EVERETT, ALABAMA

CHAIRMAN

PRESS RELEASE

  Opening Statement of Terry Everett

Hearing on the Fiscal Year 2007 National Defense Authorization Budget Request for

the Department of Energy's Atomic Energy Defense Activities

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Strategic Forces Subcommittee meets today to receive testimony on the Department of Energy's fiscal year 2007 budget request for Atomic Energy Defense Activities.

I welcome Ambassador Linton Brooks, Administrator of the National Nuclear Security

Administration, Mr. Jim Rispoli, Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management at the Department ofEnergy, and Mr. Glenn Podonsky, Director of the Department of Energy's Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance. Ambassador Brooks will cover the NNSA budget request for fiscal year 2007. The NNSA request is for $9.3 billion. Assistant Secretary Rispoli will provide testimony on the Department of Energy's request for defense environmental cleanup -that request is for $5.4 billion. Mr. Podonsky will address Department-wide safeguards and security policies.

We have a lot of ground to cover today, and I want to allow each of our members as much time as

possible to ask questions, so I will be brief. Likewise, I would ask our witnesses to please be brief with their prepared remarks - the entirety of your written testimony will be entered into the record. This session is open under rule 9 of the Committee. I would ask members for their cooperation in keeping their line of questioning unclassified.

I have scheduled a separate classified subcommittee briefing session for tomorrow (Thurs Mar 2) at 12:00 to go into certain classified issues related to the Reliable Replacement Warhead Program. I will also highlight for other subcommittee members the opportunity to join me, Congressman Schwarz and Ambassador Brooks on a CODEL Mar 19-22 to visit NNSA facilities in Nevada and New Mexico. Would love to have you join the trip.

Ambassador Brooks, I would like to highlight a few areas that I am specifically interested in hearing about today:

• Progress being made on the Reliable Replacement Warhead program;
• Your thoughts and recommendations on how to transform the nuclear weapons complex to achieve the responsive infrastructure required for the future. I am specifically interested in your thoughts on both the consolidation of nuclear material and the Overskei Task Force Report on the Nuclear Weapons Complex Infrastructure.
• And the status of finalizing the resolution of the liability agreement with Russia on the Mixed Oxide Fuel Facility project.

Assistant Secretary Rispoli, I am specifically interested in hearing about the following:

• Your vision of environmental cleanup since you assumed your current position as Assistant Secretary last year. What works well and what does not.
• What all parties have learned from the technical and design problems, cost increases and schedule delays for the Waste Treatment Plant at Hanford. I must tell you I was dismayed to see the Dec 2005 Estimate at Completion at just under $9 billion for this project. Mr. Podonsky, I believe this is the first time the Strategic Forces Subcommittee has asked you to testify-thank you for coming. I would like to hear your thoughts on:
• Federal oversight of security at the NNSA sites-are we making progress?
• Your thoughts on how the Department approaches and implements the Design Basis Threat criteria. Are we doing enough in the area of risk analysis to ensure that the taxpayers are getting a good return on each dollar invested for security?

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