Americans should be terrified of Biden and the left’s negligence.
Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, along with a group of fellow Republican lawmakers, expressed extreme concern in a letter on Tuesday regarding the sudden reassignment of a Department of Energy (DOE) director by the Biden administration. The letter, addressed to DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm, detailed the unexpected transfer of Steven Black, who served as the director of the Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (DOE-IN), to a “senior adviser” position within the Energy Department on October 17, without providing any explanation for the decision.
This has raised major concerns for Republicans about America’s national security.
According to Fox, in the letter, Senator Risch highlighted that an external contractor conducted a study, in the possession of the Department since April, revealing troubling findings about the state of counterintelligence throughout the Department, including national laboratories. Emphasizing the critical national security work undertaken by the Department of Energy, particularly at the national laboratories, the letter expressed deep concern about the unsettling findings in the contractor study, which had been requested by Congress.
The letter, endorsed by Republican Senators John Barrasso, Marco Rubio, Steve Daines, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy, Tom Cotton, Jerry Moran, John Cornyn, and James Lankford, raised questions about whether Steven Black, as the head of DOE-IN during a period of alleged counterintelligence deficiencies, should hold any position involving national security responsibilities.
Senator Barrasso, as the ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources committee, and Senator Rubio, serving as the vice chairman of the Committee on Intelligence, underscored the importance of seeking answers regarding the abrupt reassignment of Black after 11 years of service. The senators also sought clarification on the potential influence of the contractor study on this decision and information about Black’s new role within the department.
Furthermore, the letter requested details on when the Department received the contractor study in April and sought the Department’s position on the study’s conclusions. The senators emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in addressing the concerns raised about the Department of Energy’s management of national security matters.