Bill Introduced to Prohibit Visits by Some Scientists to Three DOE Labs

S. 887 is concise: “Moratorium on Foreign Visitors Program. The Secretary of Energy may not admit to any facility of a national laboratory any individual who is a citizen of a nation that is named on the current Department of Energy sensitive countries list.”

This legislation would affect Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Sandia National Laboratories. A May 1998 Los Alamos document of countries “on this [sensitive countries] list for reasons of national security, terrorism, or nuclear nonproliferation support”includes the People’s Republic of China, India, Israel, Russia, and Taiwan.

S. 887 contains a waiver provision, provided that Congress is notified ten days in advance. The bill language reads: “The Secretary of Energy may waive the prohibition...on a case-by-case basis with respect to specific individuals whose admission to a national laboratory is determined by the Secretary to be necessary for the national security of the United States. Before any such waiver takes effect, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services and the Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the Committee on Armed Services and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives a report in writing providing notice of the proposed waiver. The report shall identify each individual for whom such a waiver is proposed and, with respect to each such individual, provide a detailed justification for the waiver and the Secretary’s certification that the admission of that individual to a national laboratory is necessary for the national security of the United States.”

All other foreign citizens to these three laboratories would be required to undergo a security clearance investigation or background check.

Senator Richard C. Shelby (R-Alabama) introduced this bill on April 27. Shelby is the chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which has been critical of well-publicized security breeches involving nuclear weapons technology. In introducing this bill, Shelby criticized the Department of Energy, stating, “Year after year, the Committee has provided additional funds and directed many reviews and studies in an effort to persuade the Department of Energy to take action. Unfortunately, this and prior administrations failed to heed our warnings. Consequently, a serious espionage threat at our national laboratories has gone virtually unabated and it appears that our nuclear weapons program may have suffered extremely grave damage.” Shelby went on to say that while he welcomes new security efforts, he is acting out of concern that they make take years to fully implement. He concludes, “In the interim, we must take steps to ensure the integrity of our national labs. I understand that a moratorium on the foreign visitors program may be perceived as a draconian measure. Until the Department fully implements a comprehensive and sustained counterintelligence program, however, I believe that we must err on the side of caution. The stakes are too high.”

A person to watch will be Senator Pete Domenici (R-New Mexico), who has great interest in the national laboratories. He is also chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee funding the Department of Energy. About S. 887, Domenici said, “I believe before we are finished there will be an understanding of the significance of scientific exchanges to the very lifeblood of these labs.”

From Shelby’s standpoint, his timing could not have been better. Today’s “New York Times” describes the apparent compromise of extremely sensitive computer codes used to design and analyze nuclear weapons.