Summary: Although the Department of Energy (DOE) relies heavily on information in dealing with everything from massive environmental damage to unsafe nuclear weapons facilities, staff throughout the agency are not always receiving the information they need. This situation could increase the likelihood that the public will be unnecessarily exposed to dangerous contaminants; the safety and health of workers will not be adequately protected; outdated weapons components will continue to be manufactured and discarded; and facilities, secrets, and employees will not be adequately protected from threats. In addition, DOE is wasting money developing and running information systems that overlap or duplicate existing systems. These problems exist because DOE has not (1) implemented a strategic information resources management (IRM) planning process that focuses information resource investments on achieving strategic mission objectives and (2) exercised adequate management control to ensure that IRM activities are conducted in accordance with the law. Underlying DOE's ineffective IRM planning and management control is a lack of top management attention to managing information.
