The Role of the Independent Inspection and Evaluation Office in the Assessment of the Status of Safeguards and Security

The role of the independent assessment group in any organization cannot be over-stated. Where safeguards and security are concerned, there is a need for any organization to ensure that safeguarding and securing valuable assets are more than just complying with rules and regulations. There must be a mechanism which provides assurance to management, the Congress, and the general public that the organization is applying safeguards and security in a manner in which performance clearly indicates that those assets are safe and secure. This means that someone must oversee the implementation of safeguards and security, someone must go to the facilities and observe first hand the activities which will provide that assurance. The agencies that most of the members of INMM deal with are the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRG) and the Department of Energy (DOE). For most of us who deal with the NRC, we also must answer to a utility, a profit-making company which must abide by the regulatory guidance of the NRC. Some of us are employees of private companies which are under contract to the DOE. Others of us who are not employees of the private sector must, in some way, answer directly to a federal agency. In the end, in the business in which we work, we must all answer to the American public. As we have seen in the past few years, answering to the public is not easy. In the DOE, we have been plagued by problems which have surfaced. In the NRC, we have been besieged by problems since Three Mile Island. All of these problems, both real and perceived, are made doubly difficult if we have not policed our own house, and the public perceives that these problems would not have been brought to light, or corrected, except for an accident, an aggressive interest group, or an intervenor. Our basic management style and ability becomes a question.