The United States Federal budget currently provides more than 20 billion dollars of support towards hundreds of "general science" related programs and institutions. Many of these programs are implemented by cabinet level agencies, such as the Department of Energy. The Department of Energy (DOE), among its many responsibilities, coordinates the activities of the nine National Laboratories and more than a dozen specialized laboratories that are located across the country. Nobel Prize-winning contributions to health care, energy development and environmental research are just a few of the major advancements made at these labs. While agencies like the DOE have provided an invaluable service to the nation and have forwarded science research exponentially, their controversial history reads as captivatingly as any dramatic work of fiction.

The U.S. Department of Energy has its roots in an unlikely place, The Manhattan Project, the code name of the research and development of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Japan during World War II. In August of 1939, Albert Einstein and a number of scientists wrote a letter to President Roosevelt explaining the efforts of Nazi Germany to purify a type of uranium, U-235, which could be used to create a nuclear weapon. Combined with the knowledge that German scientists had invented a fission bomb in 1938, the project was started to create a nuclear device for the U.S. military. In 1942, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers established the Manhattan Engineer District to manage the project. The code name Manhattan Project was used because the majority of the early research was conducted in New York. Vannevar Bush, head of the National Defense Research Committee and the Office Of Development and Scientific Research, first headed the project. After Bush, General Leslie Groves was put in charge. General Groves purchased sites at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington to build the necessary facilities to separate certain types of uranium and plutonium. He appointed physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as director of a new weapons laboratory. It was built on a mesa at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Both the Oak Ridge and Los Alamos laboratories are still operational, as well as the Hanford-based laboratory, now called Pacific Northwest. They are three of the nine current Department of Energy National Laboratories. The Project began with a budget of $6,000, which soon grew to over $2 million. During early work on the device at Los Alamos, the bomb was referred to as "the gadget" in lectures, so that civilian construction workers who were completing the unfinished laboratory buildings would not hear the word "bomb." Finally, in 1945, the atomic bomb was constructed. It was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.

Following the war, Congress engaged in a vigorous and contentious debate over whether civilians or the military should control the atomic weapon capabilities. To end the debate, Congress passed an act that formed the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President Harry S. Truman signed the Atomic Energy Act on August 1, 1946, transferring the control of atomic energy from military to civilian hands. This action reflected America's postwar optimism, with Congress declaring that atomic energy should be employed not only in the Nation's defense, but also to promote world peace, improve the public welfare and to strengthen free competition in private enterprise. The signing was the culmination of long months of intensive debate among politicians, military planners and atomic scientists over the fate of this new energy source. The heated debate, however, was only partially satiated by the addition of both a military and civilian advisory board to oversee the Commission. Oppenheimer chaired the Civilian Advisory Board from 1946-1952, and after witnessing the destructive capabilities of this technology, was adamantly opposed to the making of the hydrogen bomb. It is alleged that numerous military officials were not satisfied with the disclosure of atomic "secrets" to civilians, or Oppenheimer's strong opposition to continued development of the H-bomb and other nuclear devices. On December 23, 1953, a letter notified Dr. Oppenheimer that his security clearance had been suspended. He was furnished a list of items of derogatory information and was advised of his rights to a hearing under AEC procedures. On March 4, 1954, Dr. Oppenheimer requested that he be afforded a hearing. The AEC became the center of a nation-wide controversy as a result of Oppenheimer's suspension, on the alleged grounds that he was a security risk. He was charged with numerous counts of association with Communist organizations and was condemned by the House Committee on Un-American Activities, chaired by Sen. Joseph McCarthy. At Oppenheimer's hearing before the AEC Board, he was charged as a Communist sympathizer, and it was alleged that his opposition to the development of the H-bomb delayed its development because of his substantial influence in the scientific community. Oppenheimer himself testified, "I felt perhaps quite wrongly that having played an active part in promoting a revolution in warfare, I needed to be as responsible as I could with regard to what came of this revolution." The Board concluded specifically that Dr. Oppenheimer was a "loyal American citizen", however, his alleged Communist associations and stance on the future of atomic weaponry deemed reinstatement of his security clearance impossible, as decided by a 4 to 1 vote.

Despite the controversy surrounding Oppenheimer, the Atomic Energy Commission began many useful and necessary projects for the nation. The National Laboratory system was established from the facilities created under the Manhattan Project, and Argonne National Laboratory was one of the first laboratories authorized under this legislation as a contractor-operated facility dedicated to fulfilling the new Commission's mission. Atomic research, however, was used mainly for military purposes in the years following, and during the early Cold War years, the Commission focused on designing and producing nuclear weapons and on developing nuclear reactors for naval propulsion. Up until 1954, the use of atomic research and energy was a government-restricted program, in order to limit the use of nuclear intelligence by civilians and enemy regimes. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 ended exclusive government use of the atomic research, and began the growth of the commercial nuclear power industry, giving the Atomic Energy Commission authority to regulate the new industry. The extended energy crisis of the 1970s demonstrated the need for unified energy organization and planning. The Department of Energy, activated on October 1, 1977, assumed the responsibilities of the Federal Energy Administration, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Federal Power Commission and parts and programs of several other agencies. Ironically, the focus of the Department of Energy has shifted to mend mistakes made in its own missions over the years. The Department's research during the 1970's and 80's focused mainly on nuclear military development and on energy concerns, reflecting the tense climate of the Cold War. In the past decade, this focus has shifted to environmental issues, including cleaning up nuclear waste and decimated lands. In essence, the Department is trying to undo the damage caused by the nuclear testing of its predecessors. This is a reflection of the peacetime atmosphere and the environmental focus of the nation and commercial industries. The Department of Energy, through the decades, has evolved from a project to create death and destruction through nuclear weaponry, to one that supports research and development of live-saving devices and medical breakthroughs. This evolution is but one facet of the Federal government's ever-changing role in scientific research.