Alarmed, DOE embarked upon a campaign to save the department and reshape the laboratories, by shrinking and restructuring them.
At the last moment, one day before the deadlock that led President Bill Clinton to shut down much of the federal government, he signed into law the Energy and Water Development Appropriation Act of fiscal year 1996. The measure preserves DOE at nearly 1995 funding levels.
EMBARRASSMENT: Revelations that Energy Secretary Hazel O'Leary paid $43,500 to a media consultant further lowered morale among DOE staff.
Adding to its difficulties, DOE must rebound from its latest embarrassment-news that Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary spent $43,500 of DOE money to determine why the agency gets such bad press. At press time, the situation and O'Leary's status were still unresolved.
Given the agency's entrenched bureaucracy, DOE's effort to reform its labs can claim only a measure of success, according to a report issued to ...
