112 STAT. 2258 PUBLIC LAW 105-261—OCT. 17, 1998 42 USC 2121 SEC. 3159. PANEL TO ASSESS THE RELIABILITY, SAFETY, AND SECU- note. RITY OF THE UNITED STATES NUCLEAR STOCKPILE. Contracts. (a) REQUIREMENT FOR PANEL.—The Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, shall enter into a contract with a federally funded research and development center to establish a panel for the assessment of the certification process for the reliability, safety, and security of the United States nuclear stockpile. (b) COMPOSITION AND ADMINISTRATION OF PANEL.—(1) The panel shall consist of private citizens of the United States with knowledge and expertise in the technical aspects of design, manufacture, and maintenance of nuclear weapons. (2) The federally funded research and development center shall be responsible for establishing appropriate procedures for the panel, including selection of a panel chairman. (c) DUTIES OF PANEL. —Each year the panel shall review and assess the following: (1) The annual certification process, including the conclusions and recommendations resulting from the process, for the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States, as carried out by the directors of the national weapons laboratories. (2) The long-term adequacy of the process of certifying the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile of the United States. (3) The adequacy of the criteria established by the Secretary of Energy pursuant to section 3158 for achieving the purposes for which those criteria are established. (d) REPORT.—Not later than October 1 of each year, beginning with 1999, the panel shall submit to the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee on National Security of the House of Representatives a report setting forth its findings and conclusions resulting from the review and assessment carried out for the year covered by the report. The report shall be submitted in classified and unclassified form. (e) COOPERATION OF OTHER AGENCIES.—(1) The panel may secure directly from the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense, or any of the national weapons laboratories or plants or any other Federal department or agency information that the panel considers necessary to carry out its duties. (2) For carrying out its duties, the panel shall be provided full and timely cooperation by the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Defense, the Commander of United States Strategic Command, the Directors of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the Sandia National Laboratories, the Savannah River Site, the Y-12 Plant, the Pantex Facility, and the Kansas City Plant, and any other official of the United States that the chairman of the panel determines as having information described in paragraph (1). (3) The Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of Defense shall each designate at least one officer or employee of the Department of Energy and the Department of Defense, respectively, to serve as a liaison officer between the department and the panel. (f) FUNDING. —The Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Energy shall each contribute 50 percent of the amount of funds that are necessary for the panel to carry out its duties. Funds available for the Department of Energy for atomic energy defense
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