Department of Energy

The Department of Energy has a rich heritage of meeting important national goals in the areas of energy, national security, science, and technology. Its mission is to contribute to the welfare of the nation by providing the scientific foundation, technology, policy, and institutional leadership necessary to achieve efficiency in energy use, diversity in energy sources, a more productive and competitive economy, improved environmental quality, and a secure national defense.

The Department's foreign intelligence program is a component of the Intelligence Community. Its missions are: to provide the Department and other US Government policymakers and decisionmakers with timely, accurate, high-impact foreign intelligence analyses; to detect and defeat foreign intelligence services bent on acquiring sensitive information on the Department's programs, facilities, technology, and personnel; to provide technical and analytical support to the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI); and to make the Department's technical and analytical expertise available to other members of the Intelligence Community.

The Department traces its membership in the Intelligence Community to July 1947 when national leaders recognized that the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) had an appropriate foreign intelligence role and authorized AEC representation on the Intelligence Advisory Board. Following enactment of the National Security Act of 1947, the AEC's intelligence role was affirmed by National Security Council Intelligence Directive No. 1 of December 12, 1947. The Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 transferred the AEC's intelligence responsibilities to the Energy Research and Development Administration. They were subsequently transferred to the Department of Energy by the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977.

Executive Order 12333 directs the Department to: provide expert technical, analytical and research capability to the Intelligence Community; to formulate intelligence collection and analysis requirements where the expert capability of the Department can contribute; to produce and disseminate foreign intelligence necessary for the Secretary of Energy's responsibilities; and to participate with the Department of State in overtly collecting information with respect to foreign energy matters. Substantive areas of the Department's intelligence responsibility include nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons technology, fossil and nuclear energy, and science and technology. The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978 greatly expanded the proliferation-related responsibilities assigned to the Department.