Today, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its intent to modernize the agency’s organizational structure to advance its policy goals consistent with its statutory requirements.Under the DOE Organization Act, the Secretary of Energy has the authority to organize the Department in order to meet the needs of the current time and support and advance the policy priorities of the new Administration. Those priorities are: achieving U.S. energy dominance; protecting our energy and national security; advancing innovation; and improving outcomes in environmental management.
Under the new plan, the current office of Under Secretary for Science and Energy (established in 2013 during Secretary Moniz’s tenure) will be separated into two Under Secretary positions so that there will once again be three Under Secretaries: the Under Secretary of Energy; the Under Secretary for Science; and the Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator, as is consistent with DOE’s statutory mandate.
The Under Secretary of Energy will focus on energy policy, applied energy technologies, energy security and reliability, and certain DOE-wide management functions, while the Under Secretary for Science will focus on supporting innovation, basic scientific research, and environmental cleanup.