By Mr. SHELBY:
S. 887. A bill to establish a moratorium on the Foreign Visitors
Program at the Department of Energy nuclear laboratories, and for other
purposes; to the Committee on Armed Services.
department of energy sensitive country foreign visitors moratorium act
of 1999
Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to impose a
moratorium on the foreign visitors program at the Department of
Energy's (DOE) nuclear laboratories. The bill prohibits the Secretary
of Energy from admitting any person from a "sensitive country" to our
national laboratories, unless the Secretary of Energy personally
certifies to the Congress that the visit is necessary for the national
security of the United States.
A "sensitive country" is a country that is considered dangerous to
the United States and that may want to acquire our nuclear weapons
secrets.
Mr. President, the Senate Intelligence Committee has been critical of
the Department of Energy's counterintelligence program for nearly ten
years. Beginning in 1990, we identified serious shortfalls in funding
and personnel dedicated to protecting our nation's nuclear secrets.
Year after year, the Committee has provided additional funds and
directed many reviews and studies in an effort to persuade the
Department of Energy to take action. Unfortunately, this and prior
administrations failed to heed our warnings. Consequently, a serious
espionage threat at our national labs has gone virtually unabated and
it appears that our nuclear weapons program may have suffered extremely
grave damage.
Now, the administration has finally begun to take affirmative steps
to address this problem. While I welcome their efforts, I am
disappointed that it took a some bad press to motivate them rather than
a known threat to our national security. Nevertheless, the Department
of Energy has begun the process of repairing the damage caused by years
of neglect, but it will take time to make the necessary changes. In
fact, it may take years.
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In the interim, we must take steps to ensure the integrity of our
national labs. I understand that a moratorium on the foreign visitors
program may be perceived as a draconian measure. Until the Department
fully implements a comprehensive and sustained counterintelligence
program, however, I believe that we must err on the side of caution.
The stakes are too high.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the
Record, as follows:
S. 887
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the "Department of Energy
Sensitive Country Foreign Visitors Moratorium Act of 1999".
SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON FOREIGN VISITORS PROGRAM.
(a) Moratorium.--The Secretary of Energy may not admit to
any facility of a national laboratory any individual who is a
citizen of a nation that is named on the current Department
of Energy sensitive countries list.
(b) Waiver Authority.--(1) The Secretary of Energy may
waive the prohibition in subsection (a) on a case-by-case
basis with respect to specific individuals whose admission to
a national laboratory is determined by the Secretary to be
necessary for the national security of the United States.
(2) Before any such waiver takes effect, the Secretary
shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services and the
Select Committee on Intelligence of the Senate and the
Committee on Armed Services and the Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence of the House of Representatives a
report in writing providing notice of the proposed waiver.
The report shall identify each individual for whom such a
waiver is proposed and, with respect to each such individual,
provide a detailed justification for the waiver and the
Secretary's certification that the admission of that
individual to a national laboratory is necessary for the
national security of the United States.
(3)(A) A waiver under paragraph (1) may not take effect
until a period of 10 days of continuous session of Congress
has expired after the date of the submission of the report
under paragraph (2) providing notice of that waiver.
(B) For purposes of subparagraph (A)--
(i) the continuity of a session of Congress is broken only
by an adjournment of the Congress sine die; and
(ii) there shall be excluded from the computation of the
10-day period specified in that subparagraph Saturdays,
Sundays, legal public holidays, and any day on which either
House of Congress in not in session because of adjournment of
more than three days to a day certain.
(4) The authority of the Secretary under paragraph (1) may
not be delegated.
SEC. 3. BACKGROUND CHECKS ON ALL FOREIGN VISITORS TO NATIONAL
LABORATORIES.
Before an individual who is a citizen of a foreign nation
is allowed to enter a national laboratory, the Secretary of
Energy shall require that a security clearance investigation
(known as a "background check") be carried out on that
individual.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) The term "national laboratory" means any of the
following:
(A) The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore,
California.
(B) The Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New
Mexico.
(C) The Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New
Mexico.
(2) The term "sensitive countries list" means the list
prescribed by the Secretary of Energy known as the Department
of Energy List of Sensitive Countries.
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