>>> From "US Scraps Nuclear Weapons Watchdog" by Julian Borger, Guardian (London), 31 July 2003:

A US department of energy panel of experts which provided independent oversight of the development of the US nuclear arsenal has been quietly disbanded by the Bush administration, it emerged yesterday.

The decision to close down the national nuclear security administration advisory committee - required by law to hold public hearings and issue public reports on nuclear weapons issues - has come just days before a closed-door meeting at a US air force base in Nebraska to discuss the development of a new generation of tactical "mini nukes" and "bunker buster" bombs, as well as an eventual resumption of nuclear testing.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, The Memory Hole requested the following from the Department of Energy:

1. All reports produced by the NNSA Advisory Committee, from its formation to the present.
2. The minutes from all committee meetings, from its formation to the present.
3. The email sent to committee members which dissolved the committee.

Here are the documents we received (under request #F2004-00217):

• Letter to General John Gordon, Undersecretary of Energy and Administration, NNSA, from Henry G. Chiles, Jr., Chairman, NNSA Advisory Committee, 01 March 2002. [PDF file]

• "Defense Programs Subcommittee Report, Science and Technology in the Stockpile Stewardship Program," 19 Oct 2001 [PDF file]

• "Nuclear Nonproliferation Subcommittee Report, Science and Technology in the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation," 20 Oct 2001 [PDF file]

• "NNSA Advisory Committee Discussion Notes, NNSA Advisory Committee Inaugural Meeting, Forrestal Building," 26-27 June 2001 [coming soon]

• "NNSA Advisory Committee, August 2001 Meeting Summary, NNSA Advisory Committee Meeting, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM," 15 Aug 2001 [PDF file]

• "National Nuclear Security Administration, Advisory Committee Summary of Meeting," 20 Oct 2001 [PDF file]

• "National Nuclear Security Administration, Advisory Committee Summary of Meeting," 02 Mar 2002 (revised 23 May 2002) [PDF file]

• "May 2002 Meeting Notes, National Nuclear Security Administration, Advisory Committee, McLean, VA," 14-15 May 2002 [PDF file]

The Website for the NNSA's Advisory Committee is still online, although now that the panel has been dissolved, it probably won't stay around for long. We're preserving the meager Web offerings below.

On the DOE Website: http://www.dp.doe.gov/nnsa-advisory-committee.asp

The Memory Hole mirrors:

Front page

NNSA Advisory Committee Charter [PDF]

Letter from the Administrator to the Chairman of the NNSA Advisory Committee
June 27, 2001 [PDF]

NNSA Advisory Committee Membership [PDF] [HTML]

NNSA Advisory Committee Membership - Biographies [PDF] [HTML]

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