Excerpt from Department of Energy's National Security Programs Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2004: Hearing Before the Strategic Forces Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives One Hundred Eighth Congress First Session The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:05 a.m., in room 2212, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Terry Everett (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Opening Statement Of Hon. Terry Everett, A Rep-Resentative From Alabama, Chairman, Strategic Forces Subcommittee Mr. Everett. The hearing will come to order. The Strategic Forces Subcommittee meets today to receive testimony on Department of Energy's (DOE's) fiscal year 2004 budget requests, atomic energy defense activities. I welcome Under Secretary Card, who I believe is testifying for the first time before the Armed Services Committee, and Assistant Secretary Roberson, who I understand is from my district in L.A. And for those of you who do not know where that is, that is lower Alabama. Under Secretary Card will provide testimony on the Department of Energy's request for defense environmental management. So, perhaps, that is a poor choice of words. As I understand, the departments focus is not stock management, but rather clean up and closure. I also want to welcome Dr. Beckner from the National Nuclear Security Administration (Nnsa). Dr. Beckner is the Deputy Secretary of Defense Programs. Weapons activities compose over 70 percent of the$8.8 billion request for Nnsa. And I am competent that if members have questions that fall outside Dr. Beckner sexpertise, he will get answers for us. We have a lot of ground to cover today. And I want to allow each of our members as great an opportunity as possible to ask questions, so I will be brief. Likewise, I would ask our witnesses and members also to be brief with their prepared remarks and questions. The entirety of all written testimony will be entered into the record. Under Secretary Card has done the admirable task of cleaning up a Cold War legacy of 114 contaminated sights resulting from more than a half-century of Rd production testing of nuclear weapons. The magnitude of the problem is apparent when one considers that 40 percent of the funds requested for atomic energy activities, $6.8 billion, support this undertaking. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.