Combating Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction

Recommendation 5.10: DOE’s proliferation-related research and development(R&D) efforts should conform to a government-wide technology acquisition planput together by the National Director for Combating Proliferation and theCombating Proliferation Council, and existing regulatory and other barriers thatmake it difficult for the DOE laboratories to perform work for other agencies shouldbe removed.R&D programs should be structured as part of an overall strategy that leads to fielddeployment, whether for force protection or for domestic response.The DOE R&D effort should be coordinated with other agencies, especially in the chemicaland biological areas, to avoid duplication.Much of the work on technology related to combating biological and chemical weaponscurrently funded in the DOE budget should be funded instead by the agencies with directrequirements for the technology, such as the Department of Health and Human Services,the Department of Defense, and the Intelligence Community. This work can then be doneat the DOE laboratories as “work for others.” This will strengthen the connection betweenthe user and the developer, and hopefully shorten the time required to field neededcapabilities.65