[Magnum44]

DoE is the responsible agency for the production and disposal of nuclear material...it also has labs that do other “high energy” activities of military interest...I agree it also has a large component that is unnecessary, but those national security components should be retained, and in some cases strengthened (if you still believe in nuclear deterrence).

[Ditto]

DoE is the responsible agency for the production and disposal of nuclear material...it also has labs that do other “high energy” activities of military interest...

And we had all of those things long before we had a Department of Energy. All of those necessary functions can be pulled out and established as their own seperate agencies as they were for decades before the DoE monster was created.

[NavVet]

Believe me I understand better than most the DOE’s involvement with the military, but my point is that a civilian agency’s involvement was a political decision by the Eisenhower administration. There is no reason that any of those military related roles could not be reassigned to DoD.