An independent advisory committee created in June 2001 to review science and technology programs for the National Nuclear Security Administration and make recommendations for strengthening them was disbanded in June. Committee members were notified of the dissolution in a brief e-mail message. The abrupt end of the committee brought a strong reaction from Representative Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, who charged that the Department of Energy, of which the NNSA is a part, terminated “the one forum for honest, unbiased external review of its nuclear weapons policies.”
The advisory committee was established by the NNSA’s first administrator, John Gordon, to assess a host of scientific issues, including US programs in nuclear weapons proliferation detection, nuclear weapons stockpile certification, and recruitment of the next generation of nuclear weapons experts. The 15-member committee was chaired by retired Admiral Henry G. Chiles Jr and...
