important, we are pleased that you, as a citizen of this great Nation and together with your family, have made the decision to accept this challenge.

General Gordon, we are all familiar with your record of challenging assignments and accomplishments over the many years of service in various capacities at the Department of Defense, currently as Deputy Director for Central Intelligence. We look forward to working with you in your new position.

I understand that your wife, Marilyn, is here with you today. Would you kindly introduce her to those in attendance?

General GORDON. Yes, sir. My wife of 33 years, and the one who has graciously allowed me to take one more shot at public service, is Marilyn. She is sitting right behind me.

Chairman WARNER. Thank you, Marilyn. When I walked into the room I thought it was your daughter, but we got that straight.

I believe it is important to provide a brief history regarding the establishment of the National Nuclear Security Administration and the position for which General Gordon has been nominated.

As most in this room know, the National Nuclear Security Administration was established by title 32 of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2000. That statute consolidated all the National security functions of the Department of Energy under a single, semiautonomous organizational unit. This reorganization represents the more significant reorganization at the Department of Energy in more than 20 years.

The Congress did not take this action lightly. We established this new entity in response to a multitude of reports and assessments which called for changes in the Department of Energy's somewhat disorganized organization at that time. Some referred to it as dysfunctional.

The report includes the 1997 120-day study issued by the Institute of Defense Analysis, the 1999 Chiles commission report, and the 1999 Foster panel report, just to mention a few. However, the most compelling report was issued by President Clinton's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board in June of 1999. I read a quote from that:

"Real and lasting security and counterintelligence reform
at the weapons labs is simply unworkable within DOE's
current structure and culture. To achieve the kind of pro-
tection that these sensitive labs must have, they and their
functions must have their own autonomous operational
structure, free of all the other obligations imposed by DOE
management."

I think that is the compass that guided the Congress, primarily the Senate, in writing this statute. The President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board went on to make the following recommendation to the President and Congress:

1. Create a semi-autonomous agency.

2. Streamline the management of the DOE weapons lab
managing structure by abolishing ties between the weap-
ons labs and all DOE regional, field, and site offices, and
all contractor intermediators.

The committee was very careful to fully implement the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board's bipartisan recommendations exactly as they were presented to the President. The overarching goal was to establish for the first time in many years a clear chain of command from the Department's national security programs.

Some disagree with the final product, but I believe we, that is, we the Congress, accomplished that goal. It is now time for you, General Gordon, to make this new entity work. We have vested a considerable amount of authority in the Administrator of this new entity, and trust that you will use it in the best interest of our national security.

I would like to now call on my colleague, Senator Levin.

STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARL LEVIN

Senator LEVIN. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Let me add my welcome to General Gordon and his granddaughter. [Laughter.] We have friendly competition here.

Chairman WARNER. That is a stretch. [Laughter.]

Senator LEVIN. General Gordon has served this Nation for more than 30 years, most recently as Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and now, he has been nominated by President Clinton and Secretary Richardson to serve as the first Administrator of the new National Nuclear Security Administration. He was recommended for this position by a panel of highly-qualified experts headed by the former Deputy Secretary of Energy, Charles Curtis.

General Gordon, if confirmed, would be taking on one of the most challenging assignments in the Federal Government. The Administrator of the new National Nuclear Security Administration is responsible for maintaining the safety and reliability of the Nation's nuclear warheads; for managing the DOE laboratories; and for cleaning up some of the worst environmental problems in the Nation.

The Administrator would be facing these assignments as the head of an agency which has been so convoluted, confusing, and contradictory in its structuring and its reporting channels that last year the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, as our chairman indicated, characterized the Department of Energy as having a long-term historically dysfunctional organization. The current Secretary has made some real Herculean strides to correct that.

In my judgment, Congress added to the problem last year when it accepted the House approach rather than the Senate approach to reorganizing the Department in a way which, again, I believe diffused accountability and could make the agency more difficult to manage than it has been in the past. That now is history. That was last year's bill.

This year's defense authorization bill, which hopefully will soon be on the floor, would make the agency even more difficult to manage. It will further confuse the situation in a number of ways, including making a promise to General Gordon that we cannot keep. The Congress can say that the first head of the agency will serve 3 years, but we cannot legally bind the next President of the

United States, although we might like to do so in your case, and you may need us to do so in terms of your own personal situation. I do think there is legally a real question as to whether we can bind the next administration, but that will be resolved in a place other than here today.

If confirmed, General, it is my hope that you will be able to build the kind of strong working relationships in the Department that will enable you to overcome these and other organizational obstacles that are there.

I want to congratulate you. I want to thank your wife for her support. I know how important that is. I also want to thank Senator Domenici for the way he has been so supportive and actively involved in this nomination.

Chairman WARNER. We now turn to our esteemed colleague, Senator Domenici. Clearly, despite your humility, you were the chief architect. You led a team of Senators, Senator Kyl, Senator Murkowski and myself and others who worked tirelessly towards advising this, and putting the statute together, the floor strategy, and you are to be commended, because this clearly is in the National interest of our country.

The one area where this great Nation is vulnerable is still in the area of strategic ballistic missiles, coming on with great fullness and effect, and this is a step towards protecting the future of our Nation. I thank you, Senator.

STATEMENT OF HON. PETE V. DOMENICI, U.S. SENATOR FROM NEW MEXICO

Senator DOMENICI. Well, I thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Levin, Senator Reed. I will not take long, because obviously what we have is one of the most qualified nominees for any executive position that I have seen in my 28 years. As a matter of fact, if one believes in fate, one might even argue that this gentleman's career path and the qualifications that he has acquired en route down that path destined him to become the first leader of this entity.

I never thought, when we were drafting this legislation beyond the draft, beyond the work, beyond the comments back and forth, the efforts to make it the best legislation, I never thought about who would run it, but it was long after it was passed and signed into law that many people commented to me that there was one person that stood above all others and that ought to be seriously considered, and that happened to be this very distinguished General sitting here on my left.

I want to thank him, on behalf of our country, for accepting this responsibility. If you look at his life, he has done many important things. He certainly did not have to at this stage of his life undertake one of the most difficult new jobs in Government, an area that is most important for our future.

I need not tell this committee that the world is changing rapidly since the cold war with reference to nuclear weapons, with reference to what are the great nations and the lesser nations going to do about proliferation, and where are we going with reference to Russia and some of our allies in terms of the future of our nuclear stockpile, and where and how are we going to compete with

out any testing, any underground testing to make sure that our very sophisticated weapons are safe and reliable and trustworthy. That is the challenge of this new institution, this new entity, is to manage that kind of operation within a Department of Energy that has so many things to do that it is almost incomprehensible to me that we got this far with that kind of dysfunctionalness and still have a fantastic nuclear set of laboratories with the greatest and smartest people in America working at them. General Gordon will be part of trying to make sure we accomplish the challeng of keeping the best and the brightest working at these centers as we change in a new direction under science-based stockpile stewardship.

You might wonder why I am here. General Gordon is from Missouri, so perhaps some other Senator should have been here, but he spent enough time in New Mexico in very important jobs that I have adopted him, so I think it is OK for a New Mexican to be introducing him.

But most importantly, I came because I did have a lot to do with this statute. This committee has been marvelous in perfecting it, and this year again they are working very hard to make sure the original intent that was in that law is accomplished, and I thank you for that, and I say let us make sure that we do not let this Secretary or any Secretary water down the authority and jurisdiction of this position without allowing us a decade or so to see if it will not work better than what we have been doing, because I believe it will.

I thank you in advance for expeditiously handling this, and hopefully the Senate, in very short order, can confirm him so he can go to work.

Chairman WARNER. Senator, we will endeavor to have the confirmation completed prior to the recess for Memorial Day. Before you depart, Senator, you touched on one thing that I think is very important, and that is the laboratories and their contribution to our security. I know, General, that in the course of your duties, and I am sure all present agree with me, there is a certain independence that they must have in terms of their expression of professional views.

We have seen that in recent testimony before the Senate, when the lab directors came up in a most difficult political environment and yet courageously they gave us their scientific, unvarnished views, despite the political pressures, and I hope that that will always be the case with particularly the directors of the labs and, indeed, their subordinates.

Now, General, we have a few standard questions which we ask of all nominees.

Mr. Reed, did you have any opening comments you wish to make?

Senator REED. No, Mr. Chairman, thank you.

Chairman WARNER. In the questions, have you adhered to all applicable laws and regulations governing conflict of interest? General GORDON. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Have you assumed any duties or undertaken any actions which would appear to presume the outcome of the confirmation process?

General GORDON. No, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will you ensure that your staff complies with deadlines established for requested communications, including questions for the record in hearings as submitted by Members of the Congress?

General GORDON. Yes, I will.

Chairman WARNER. Will you cooperate in providing witnesses and briefers in response to congressional request?

General GORDON. Yes, sir.

Chairman WARNER. Will those witnesses be protected from any reprisal for their testimony and briefings?

General GORDON. Absolutely.

Chairman WARNER. We thank you very much, and if you would kindly proceed with such opening statement as you wish.

STATEMENT OF GEN. JOHN A. GORDON, USAF, NOMINEE TO BE ADMINISTRATOR, NATIONAL NUCLEAR SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

General GORDON. Well, Mr. Chairman, I will take your early suggestion and be brief and not say too much, but I would like to spend a couple of minutes and make a couple of points, but first let me thank the committee and particularly you, Mr. Chairman, for moving so expeditiously in scheduling and arranging this hearing, and I officially thank Senator Dominici for his very kind introduction and his support for my candidacy, and his leadership in establishing this new organization.

Mr. Chairman, I have had a few friends question why I would be willing to undertake this kind of a job. They seem to think some of the problems are too vexing, the bureaucracy is too cumbersome, the political support is too weak for a mission that they believe is fading, and drains resources that could be better used for other priorities.

While I agree there could be some skepticism with that regard, there are tremendous issues with which we must come to grips, and I do not agree these are reasons to turn away from the task. First, I believe very much in the need for an organization of this nature, and the importance to assign missions, and I want you to know, and the committee to know, and the Senate to know that I accept and support each and every one of the missions that are assigned in the act that established NNSA.

The new organization I believe creates an opportunity to develop coordinated programs, common policies, and much strengthened budgeting and program execution across the boundaries of the individual programs, but perhaps most importantly, Mr. Chairman, it creates full-time advocate for the goals, for the resources, and most importantly for the people who will actually accomplish the goals. The organization itself should prove to be an important demonstration of the commitment that our Government makes to the mission and the people who accomplish the mission.

Second, I recognize this as a major challenge, and one that, Senate willing, I am eager to take on.

Third, I believe this will prove to be one of the best technological management jobs in the Nation, an exciting opportunity to do important work, interesting work, and to make a real contribution.