Department of Energy

The Department of Energy's overarching mission is to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States; to promote scientific and technological innovation in support of that mission; and to ensure the environmental cleanup of the national nuclear weapons complex.

DOE faces numerous challenges, including

• conducting energy-related research and development and the management and protection of key assets—such as the Strategic Petroleum Reserve—that are vital to the nation’s energy and national security;
• maintaining the safety, reliability, and physical and information security of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile in the absence of clear Department of Defense requirements and with an inefficient and outmoded nuclear weapons complex;
• sustaining the relevance and effectiveness of DOE’s nonproliferation efforts;
• addressing the continued and related problems of DOE’s contract administration and project management, especially for DOE’s large and complex projects; and
• addressing the department’s human capital challenge of developing and retaining a skilled workforce capable of overseeing these projects.