DOE and its Labs -- Evolution of the Relationship from the 1970s to Now

The Department of Energy is a mash-up that occurred in two steps during the 1970s, transforming the post World War II Atomic Energy Commission with its system of laboratories into the Cabinet level department that exists today. The driver was the energy crises of the 1970s and the result created a system that brought together most of the federal governments energy programs under the single DOE roof. With the expansion of the mission came administrative complexity and the evolution of what has been described as a partnership between the Department and it labs into the vendor -- purchaser relation that is becoming the model of today. I will review what I think were the drivers of the change and comment on how things might be improved in the future.