Joe Lieberman: “since World War II, our national laboratories, primarily serving Energy and Defense Department missions, have been the…”

“since World War II, our national laboratories, primarily serving Energy and Defense Department missions, have been the Nation's repository of expertise on nuclear weapons and other national security and technical issues. Although many of these national laboratories are known as Federal Funded Research and Development Centers, or FFRDC's, and are federally financed, lab employees are not Federal employees. They are employees of the contractors who operate these laboratories. This amendment would make employees of the FFRDC's eligible to serve at the National Counterterrorism Center and other national intelligence centers. I agree with the sponsors of this amendment that if the national intelligence director, or NID, determines that he or she needs to tap the experts employed at our FFRDC's to help staff these centers, then he or she should be able to do so. But I also want to make it clear, that it is my understanding that we are not creating a new mission for the FFRDC's or authorizing the creation of a new FFRDC for this purpose.”