Office of Inspector General audit report on ``The U.S. Department of Energy`s efforts to preserve the knowledge base needed to operate a downsized nuclear weapons complex``

摘要

Maintaining a credible nuclear deterrent is a cornerstone of US national security policy. The President has stated that the maintenance of a safe and reliable nuclear weapons stockpile is a supreme national interest. The Department of Energy`s (Department) Office of Defense Programs is charged with ensuring the safety, reliability, and performance of this stockpile. The Department must now rely on scientific understanding and expert judgment, rather than on nuclear testing and the development of new weapons, to predict, identify, and correct problems affecting the stockpile. The scientific understanding and judgment will be based on the knowledge created by the Department and its predecessor agencies throughout the history of the nuclear weapons program as well as such factors as nonnuclear testing and advanced computer modeling. To preserve the knowledge base, the Department must assemble, maintain, and assure user-friendly access to a comprehensive, well-organized archive of data, information, and knowledge regarding nuclear weapons. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Department had developed a program to preserve the knowledge base needed to operate a downsized nuclear weapons complex. In particular, the author assessed the Department`s efforts to preserve the data, information, and knowledge needed to ensure the vitality of the weapons complex.