The Development and Significance of the DOE Safeguards and Security Standards and Criteria

In October 1985, the DOE Assistant Secretary for Defense Programs created a task force to develop inspection standards and criteria for Safeguards and Security. These standards and criteria (S/C) would provide the DOE Inspection and Evaluation (I&E) teams with the guidance needed to assess the security posture of DOE's nuclear and other important facilities. The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was designated the lead management organization for the structuring, administration, and execution of the overall task force effort and appointed the Executive Secretary. The Office of Security Evaluations (OSE) became the responsible DOE organization, and its Director assumed the role of Chairman of the Task Force Executive Committee. At its peak, the Task Force consisted of approximately 200 people who were considered to be experts in eight major topical areas. The composition of the experts was almost evenly divided between DOE and contractor employees. The collective wisdom of these experts was used in a consensus process to develop the S/C that are now published in draft form. These S/C have been used in more than ten Inspections since May 1986 with much success. This paper discusses the process used to achieve the desired end result and the significance of the Task Force's accomplishments.