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Deputy Assistant Secretary Office of Environmental Protection, Safety and Emergency Preparedness Department of Energy It has come to cur attention that one of the reasons given far justifying the transfer of the Marshall Islands projects from EP to DP is that EP has poorly managed those projects. As members of a group of scientists asked by former Acting DOE Assistant Secretary Dr. James L. Liverman in April 1978 to advise on radiological matters in the northern Marshall Islands (a request subsequently reiterated by former DOE Assistant Secretary Ruth Clusen), we believe a claim of poor management of the Marshall Islands program by EP is not a valid basis for transfer of the program to DP. Further, we are concerned that claims of poor management will unfairly reflect upon the performance of Dr. Bruce Wachholz, who was given responsibility for the program by Mrs. Clusen in The group of scientists first met in April 1978 to provide advice on the Marshall Islands projects; none of the scientists came from an institution that had projects in the Marshall Islands. It quickly became apparent to us that Headquarters’ management of the projects was inadequate. There was no identifiable coherent program; each project seemed to be independent of all others. There was lack of coordination--interaction and communications between projects performed by different laboratories were sporadic. Investigators met with Marshallese officials without Headquarters’ knowledge; this often led to implied commitments. Overall priorities were not identified; goals and objectives were not clear; identification of milestones and commitments to them were lacking. The scientists brought these problems to Mrs. Clusen’s attention in late 1978 and recommended that a manager be appointed to direct the program from the Office of the Assistant Secretary. The program manager would serve also as chairman of a task group composed of appropriate staff from the DOE Headquarters divisions funding the projects and from the Nevada Operations Office, which was responsible for the Radiological Support Project. We suggested that Mr. Hal Hollister, who already reported to Mrs. Clusen as a technical advisor, was the logical person to manage the program. However, recognizing that his time was fully committed to other responsibilities, we recommended that Dr. Wachholz be the management issue to her attention and recommended Dr. Wachholz to manage the program for the Assistant Secretary. On April 27, 1979 Mrs. Clusen asked Dr. Wachholz to “assume responsibility for overall planning, integration and implementation of EV programs in the Marshall
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Letter to Davies We believe that Dr. Wachholz made positive steps toward getting the Marshall Islands program under the control of DOE Headquarters. He accomplished a great deal in the areas of planning and integration and had the complete support of DOE Headquarters and the scientists performing the studies. A lack of support became a significant factor in early 1981 when responsibility for the Marshall Islands program was again fragmented, resulting in deterioration of Headquarters’ management of the program. We believe it is this fragmentation and lack of positive support in EP, not Dr. Wachholz’s performance, that have led to claims of poor management. In fact, we believe that poor management is not a valid issue in making a decision to transfer the Marshall Islands program. SUCM decision should be based on other considerations. Manager, Environment, Health and Safety Research Program Pacific Northwest Laboratories & Applied Health Physics Oak Ridge National Laboratory Environmental Sciences Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory (On leave in Japan) tnergy Systems Department Pacific Northwest Laboratory Member, Health bivision Director, Inhalation Toxicology President, Lovelace Biomedical Oak Ridge National Laboratory Associate Manager, Environmental Pacific Northwest Laboratory Senior Staff Scientisl Pacific Northwest Laboratory LOS Alamos Scientific Laboratory
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