Panel Subpoenas Nuclear Arms Data

WASHINGTON — Accusing officials of arrogance and foot-dragging, House investigators have issued a subpoena for extensive Department of Energy records on U.S. nuclear weapons issues, including a foiled Iraqi attempt to acquire nuclear weapons technology earlier this year.

The subpoena from Rep. John D. Dingell (D-Mich.) and the House subcommittee on oversight and investigation was delivered late last week. It capped weeks of efforts to acquire documents bearing not only on the Iraqi episode but also on weapons safety and security at department laboratories.

In a memorandum to subcommittee members, Dingell said he had taken the unusual step of sending a subpoena to Energy Secretary James D. Watkins “reluctantly and only after continued foot-dragging and non-cooperation by DOE officials.”

“The position of the Department of Energy is that we will give them anything, provided we have their request in writing,” said spokesman Tom Olsen, “but, so far, they haven’t done that. We will just consider the subpoena their written request.” The records, Dingell said, were required in connection with a continuing investigation of the adequacy of nuclear safeguards and security--and include one document that “pertains to our interest in determining the department’s proper role in preventing the unauthorized acquisition of sensitive technology and nuclear materials by Iraq.”

A Dingell aide said Monday that the subpoena for the document concerning Iraq resulted from a briefing given to the subcommittee last May after British customs officials seized U.S.-made nuclear trigger components bound for that country.

In the course of the briefing, Energy Department officials made reference to internal documents raising concern about the the spread of nuclear technology to countries such as Iraq, the aide said, and the subcommittee asked to receive copies.

At the same time, the committee has sought unsuccessfully to get internal information bearing on reports of serious weapons safety problems.

In a letter to Watkins last month, an angry Dingell said that, after requesting the safety documents, his committee was told by Energy Undersecretary John C. Tuck that it should contact the House Armed Services Committee.

“I hope that you will inform Mr. Tuck that this committee has jurisdiction over DOE and exercises it vigorously,” Dingell told the secretary.

The subpoena ordered documents in more than half a dozen categories delivered to the subcommittee on Sept. 4, the day the House returns from its summer recess.