50 U.S.C. § 2410 — Status of Administration and contractor personnel within Department of Energy

(a) Status of Administration personnel. Each Administration officer or employee must be responsible to, and subject to the authority, direction, and control of: (1)(A) the Secretary acting through the Administrator and consistently with section 7132(c)(3) of title 42; (B) the Administrator; or (C) the Administrator’s designee within the Administration. The officer or employee may not be responsible to, or subject to the authority, direction, or control of, any other Department of Energy officer, employee, or agent.

(b) Status of contractor personnel. An officer or employee of an Administration contractor may not be responsible to, or subject to the authority, direction, or control of, a Department of Energy officer, employee, or agent who is not an Administration employee. The exception is the Secretary of Energy, consistently with section 7132(c)(3) of title 42.

(c) Construction of section. Subsections (a) and (b) may not be read to prevent or interfere in any way with communicating technical findings that come from, and are consistent with, authorized activities between: (1) the head or any contractor employee of a national security laboratory^* or nuclear-weapons production facility; and (2) the Department of Energy, the President, or Congress.

(d) Prohibition on dual office holding. Except as provided by sections 2402(a)(2) and 2406(a)(1) of this title: (1) a person may not at the same time hold or perform the duties of both a position in the Administration and a position elsewhere in the Department of Energy; and (2) appropriated or otherwise available funds for any fiscal year may not pay that person the basic pay, salary, or other compensation for either position.

(e) Status of intelligence and counterintelligence personnel. Despite subsections (a) and (b), an Administration officer or employee, or an Administration contractor’s officer or employee, who performs intelligence or counterintelligence activities is subject, while performing those activities, to the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of Energy or the Secretary’s delegate.