Lanterna Rally

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Published: 2003

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The Department of Energy contributes to the future of the Nation by ensuring energy security, maintaining the safety, security and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile, cleaning up the environment from the legacy of the Cold War, and developing innovations in science and technology. After 25 years in existence, the Department now operates 24 preeminent research laboratories and facilities and four power marketing administrations, and manages the environmental cleanup from 50 years of nuclear defense activities that impacted two million acres in communities across the country. The Department has an annual budget of about $23 billion and employs about 14,500 Federal and 100,000 contractor employees. The Department of Energy is principally a national security agency and all of its missions flow from this core mission to support national security. That is true not just today, but throughout the history of the agency. The origins of the Department can be traced to the Manhattan Project and the race to develop the atomic bomb during World War II. Following the war, Congress engaged in a vigorous and contentious debate over civilian versus military control of the atom. The Atomic Energy Act of 1946 settled the debate by creating the Atomic Energy Commission, which took over the Manhattan Project's sprawling scientific and industrial complex.