The Honorable Ernest Moniz
Secretary
Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585
Via email: The.Secretary@hq.doe.gov
The Honorable Gregory Friedman
Inspector General
Department of Energy
1000 Independence Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20585
Via email: gregory.friedman@hq.doe.gov
Dear Secretary Moniz and Inspector General Friedman:
We are encouraged that the department’s Office of the Inspector General is conducting an investigation into Dr. James E. Doyle’s termination of employment by Los Alamos National Laboratory. This case has obvious and wide-ranging implications for freedom of expression, scientific integrity, and the consistent and transparent implementation of classification guidance. Its impact will be important for ensuring that government contractors have effective policies protecting the rights of their employees, especially those who seek to report abuse, misconduct or unsafe practices.
We are unanimous in our concern that strong measures should be in place to prevent the possibility that classification could be used as a retaliatory measure against employees for whatever reason, but especially where it is perceived that an employee has expressed opinions contrary to those of the DOE or its contractors. The fact that Dr. Doyle’s article was initially determined to be unclassified by official review prior to publication and then subsequently classified after publication calls into question how consistently procedures have been implemented. This could set a troubling precedent.
For these reasons we are concerned that the letter from your department denying Dr. Doyle’s appeal for a hearing under the Contractor Employee Protection Program includes the statement “This case does not involve improperly classified information.� In our view this question remains open. We therefore believe that it is essential that the Department define the scope of Inspector General Friedman’s investigation into Dr. Doyle’s termination to include a complete investigation into the circumstances of the classification of his article. Thank you for consideration of this matter and we look forward to the report by the Office of the Inspector General on this case.
James M. Acton
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace*
Gerald B. Ansell
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Retired
Kenneth E. Apt, Ph.D.
Capstan Consulting, LLC
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Barry M. Blechman Stimson Center *
Matthew Bunn
Professor of Practice; Co-Principal Investigator, Project on Managing the Atom
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Angela Canterbury
Executive Director
Council for a Livable World
Joseph Cirincione
President, Ploughshares Fund
Thomas B. Cochran Consulting Senior Scientist and former Director of the Nuclear Program
Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. (NRDC)
Avner Cohen
Professor of Nonproliferation Studies
Monterey Institute of International Studies*
Charles D. Ferguson
President, Federation of American Scientists
Steve Fetter
Professor, School of Public Policy
University of Maryland
Mark Fitzpatrick
Director, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, International Institute for Strategic Studies; former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Non-Proliferation (acting)*
Richard L. Garwin
IBM Fellow Emeritus
Lisbeth Gronlund
Senior Scientist and Co-Director, Global Security Program
Union of Concerned Scientists
David Hafemeister
Professor of Physics (emeritus)
California Polytechnic State University*
Frank von Hippel
Senior Research Physicist, Professor of Public and International Affairs emeritus
Program on Science and Global Security Princeton University
Former Assistant Director for National Security, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (1993-4)
Lindsay Kreslake
University of California Berkeley*
Hans Kristensen
Federation of American Scientists
Kenneth N. Luongo
Former Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Energy for Non-Proliferation Policy
President, Partnership for Global Security and Center for a Secure Nuclear Future
Zia Mian
Program on Science and Global Security, Princeton University
Reynaldo Morales
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Retired
Neil Narang
University of California San Diego*
George Perkovich
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace*
Kingston Reif
Director of Nuclear Non-Proliferation Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation
Leonard Spector
Monterey Institute of International Studies*
Sharon Squassoni
Senior Fellow & Director, Proliferation Prevention Program, CSIS*
Charles Streeper
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Retired
Jon Wolfsthal
Former Advisor to Vice President Biden on Nuclear Policy and former Director at NSC for Nonproliferation
David Wright Senior
Scientist and Co-Director, Global Security Program Union of Concerned Scientists
*Affiliation for identification purposes only
