Inspection Report: DOE-OIG-25-28

August 7, 2025

Allegation Regarding National Nuclear Security Administration Laboratories Not Following Export Control Regulations

The Office of Inspector General received a hotline complaint reporting concerns with National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Laboratories not following export control regulations related to publishing research to the public domain. Export Controlled Information is defined as information which may include technology, technical data, assistance, or software; the export of which is controlled under various trade and economic sanctions and regulations due to its sensitive nature.

We initiated this inspection to determine the facts and circumstances regarding NNSA Laboratories not following export control regulations.

We did not substantiate the allegation that NNSA Laboratories were not following export control regulations by publishing research to the public domain in violation of International Traffic in Arms Regulations and applicable Department of Energy criteria. Our review focused on three research publications from Los Alamos National Laboratory and one from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. We found that Los Alamos National Laboratory’s three publications were published in accordance with an exemption within the International Traffic in Arms Regulations. We also found that the article from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was not identified as export controlled. While the use of this exemption for review and approval may be allowable, according to NNSA officials it may not be the best process to approve publication of NNSA research to the public domain.

While we found that the use of the exemption may be allowable, the concerns raised by NNSA officials identified the potential risk that NNSA research is being approved for public release under a review process that does not have the authority to give guidance or interpretation of what is covered under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

We made two recommendations and one suggestion that, if fully implemented, should help ensure that the issues identified in this report are corrected.