NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.
Support for this study on Declassification of Information for the Department of Energy Environmental Remediation and Related Programs was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy, under agreement DE-FC01-94EW54069.
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COMMITTEE ON DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY ENVIRONMENTAL REMEDIATION AND RELATED PROGRAMS
RICHARD A. MESERVE, Chair,
Covington & Burling, Washington, D.C.
DEAN E. ABRAHAMSON,
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
LYNDA L. BROTHERS,
Davis Wright Tremaine, Seattle, Washington
THOMAS A. COTTON,
JK Research Associates, Inc., Arlington, Virginia
PAUL P. CRAIG,
University of California, Davis
GEORGE A. FERGUSON,
Howard University (ret.), Washington, D.C.
H. JACK GEIGER,
City University of NY Medical School, New York, New York
MICHELE S. GERBER,
Westinghouse Hanford Company, Richland, Washington
KONRAD B. KRAUSKOPF,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
WOLFGANG K. H. PANOFSKY,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
RICHARD B. SETLOW,
Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York
PATRICIA A. WOOLF,
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
Staff
CARL A. ANDERSON, Staff Director
ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer
DENNIS L. DuPREE, Senior Project Assistant
JO L. HUSBANDS, Senior Staff Officer
BOARD ON RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
MICHAEL C. KAVANAUGH, Chair,
ENVIRON Corporation, Emeryville, California
B. JOHN GARRICK, Vice-Chair,
PLG, Incorporated, Newport Beach, California
JOHN F. AHEARNE,
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
JEAN M. BAHR,
University of Wisconsin, Madison
LYNDA L. BROTHERS,
Davis Wright Tremaine, Seattle, Washington
SOL BURSTEIN,
Wisconsin Electric Power, Milwaukee (retired)
MELVIN W. CARTER,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta (emeritus)
PAUL P. CRAIG,
University of California, Davis (emeritus)
MARY R. ENGLISH,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
ROBERT D. HATCHER, JR.,
University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Knoxville
DARLEANE C. HOFFMAN,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, California
H. ROBERT MEYER,
Keystone Scientific, Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado
PERRY L. McCARTY,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
CHARLES McCOMBIE,
National Cooperative for the Disposal of Radioactive Waste, Wettingen, Switzerland
PRISCILLA P. NELSON,
University of Texas at Austin
D. KIRK NORDSTROM,
U.S. Geological Survey, Boulder, Colorado
D. WARNER NORTH,
Decision Focus, Inc., Mountain View, California
GLENN PAULSON,
Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
PAUL SLOVIC,
Decision Research, Eugene, Oregon
BENJAMIN L. SMITH, Independent Consultant,
Columbia, Tennessee
Staff
CARL A. ANDERSON, Staff Director
KEVIN D. CROWLEY, Associate Director
ROBERT S. ANDREWS, Senior Staff Officer
KARYANIL T. THOMAS, Senior Staff Officer
THOMAS KIESS, Staff Officer
SUSAN B. MOCKLER, Research Associate
COMMISSION ON GEOSCIENCES, ENVIRONMENT, AND RESOURCES
M. GORDON WOLMAN, Chair,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
PATRICK R. ATKINS,
Aluminum Company of America, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
EDITH BROWN WEISS,
Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C.
JAMES P. BRUCE,
Canadian Climate Program Board, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
WILLIAM L. FISHER,
University of Texas at Austin
EDWARD A. FRIEMAN,
University of California, La Jolla
GEORGE M. HORNBERGER,
University of Virginia, Charlottesville
W. BARCLAY KAMB,
California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
PERRY L. MCCARTY,
Stanford University, Stanford, California
S. GEORGE PHILANDER,
Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
RAYMOND A. PRICE,
Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario, Canada
THOMAS C. SCHELLING,
University of Maryland, College Park
ELLEN SILBERGELD,
Environmental Defense Fund, Washington, D.C.
STEVEN M. STANLEY,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
VICTORIA J. TSCHINKEL,
Landers and Parsons, Tallahassee, Florida
Staff
STEPHEN RATTIEN, Executive Director
STEPHEN PARKER, Associate Executive Director
MORGAN GOPNIK, Assistant Executive Director
JIM MALLORY, Administrative Officer
SANDI FITZPATRICK, Administrative Associate
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PREFACE
On December 7, 1993, Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) had commenced aggressive efforts "to lift the veil of Cold War secrecy" that has surrounded many of DOE's activities. She declared her intention to declassify significant amounts of information that had previously been withheld from the public for reasons of national security. This report has its origin in the Secretary's subsequent request to the National Academy of Sciences for guidance in that effort (see Appendix A). In response to her request, the Academy formed the Committee on Declassification of Information for the DOE Environmental Remediation and Related Programs (brief biographical sketches of the members are found in Appendix B).
The Committee held a one-day work session involving officials from the Department and representatives of various affected groups on February 16, 1994. (The work session agenda and list of participants are found in Appendix C; a transcript of the work session is available from the Academy upon request.) The Committee subsequently reviewed an extensive amount of material and held meetings (see Appendix D) to pursue issues raised at the work session, as well as others that arose during the conduct of this study. This report is a result of the Committee's efforts.
During its deliberations, the Committee had substantial assistance from representatives of DOE, especially from the Office of Declassification, from various groups with interests in gaining access to information in the Department's possession, and from interested individuals. Their assistance eased our burden, and we appreciate their help. In addition, we acknowledge the contributions of Gary Stern and William Happer, members of the Committee who withdrew before this report was completed, and the assistance of Jo L. Husbands, director of the Academy's Committee on International Security and Arms Control, for her insightful technical editing of the report.
RICHARD A. MESERVE
CHAIR
