This profile outlines the US Department of Energy (DOE), focusing on its organizational structure and its role in AI and biosecurity policy. See our complementary profiles on the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration:

National Nuclear Security Administration

NNSA maintains and secures the US nuclear weapons stockpile, works to prevent nuclear proliferation and terrorism, powers the US Navy through nuclear propulsion, and responds to nuclear and radiological emergencies domestically and abroad.

Overview

The Department of Energy (DOE) manages national energy policy, sponsors scientific research, and maintains the nuclear arsenal alongside the DOD. It plays a crucial role in funding and policy related to science, technology, and national security. DOE is the largest US government funder of physical science research, most of which is conducted through DOE-operated national laboratories. 

DOE has actively funded research into AI and computing for decades, especially in its national labs. The labs operate some of the world’s most powerful supercomputers, which are used for AI research and large-scale training runs, among other things. Via its Office for Critical and Emerging Technology and other components, DOE also plays an important role in AI policy. The Biden Administration’s October 2023 Executive Order on AI assigned significant responsibilities to DOE, including in AI talent development and technical AI evaluations to protect against threats from weapons of mass destruction or to critical infrastructure.

DOE national labs also conduct extensive life sciences research, including researching biodefense, bioengineering, and emerging infectious diseases. DOE contributed resources, infrastructure, and expertise to scientific research during the COVID-19 pandemic and continues to advance biosecurity-relevant technologies, including by conducting research into synthetic biology, gene-editing, diagnostics, infectious diseases, bioinformatics, and bioengineering.

Background on DOE

• Government context: the Department of Energy (DOE) is one of 15 executive departments in the US government; the Secretary is a member of the US president’s cabinet and National Security Council
• Main activities: oversees national energy policy and production, sponsors science research (the largest non-life-science funder and second-largest science budget after National Institutes of Health), and maintains the nuclear stockpile in coordination with DOD
• Budget: small-to-mid-sized compared to other executive departments ($148.68 billion annually, 1.25% of the federal budget in 2023 — though this largely reflects influx from the Inflation Reduction Act for a Loan Programs Office, which massively increased DOE’s budget in FY 2022-2024. DOE’s annual budget will likely return closer to FY21 levels of around $61 billion.)
• Staff: 14,382 employees (quite small relative to the budget), though this number is misleading given DOE’s heavy reliance on ~95,000 contractors—many of whom work at DOE laboratories around the country
• Brief history: DOE was created under the Carter Administration in response to the 1970s oil crisis in the US, when it became a national priority to secure energy independence from OPEC—both through domestic fossil fuel production and by sourcing clean energy alternatives. There was also an increasing need to better regulate and promote private sector nuclear energy development. DOE combined prior agencies, including the Federal Energy Administration and the Energy Research and Development Administration. Over its history it has broadened the scientific fields it works on.
• Dep. of Energy Agency Performance Dashboard, Partnership for Public Service

Organizational structure

DOE is headed by a Secretary of Energy, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Other senior leadership positions are also politically appointed, such as the Deputy Secretary, Chief of Staff, Under Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries, and heads of the offices that directly report to the Secretary or Deputy Secretary.

DOE is organized into five main offices, labeled S1 to S5¹:

1. Office of the Secretary of Energy (S1)
2. Office of the Deputy Secretary of Energy (S2)
3. Office of the Undersecretary for Infrastructure (S3)
4. Office of the Undersecretary for Science and Innovation (S4)
5. Office of the Undersecretary of Nuclear Security (S5)

The Secretary (S1) and Deputy Secretary (S2) oversee the Department, with S3, S4, and S5 reporting to them. S1 and S2 also oversee 21 smaller offices listed on the right of the org chart. Many—though not all—of these smaller offices have administrative functions, such as finance (Office of the Chief Financial Officer) or legal (Office of the General Counsel). 

DOE also oversees 17 national laboratories that produce federally-funded research (see map). Management of these labs is headed by different parts of DOE org chart. The Office of Science (located in S4) oversees 10 of the labs, while the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) (S5) oversees 3 labs, including Los Alamos. The Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) supports DOE’s only government owned and operated laboratory, the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

Much of DOE’s work and budget is dedicated to the funding and production of scientific research. Similar to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), DOE funds both in-house research, taking place within DOE and its labs, and external research conducted by outside organizations, such as universities.

DOE and AI policy

DOE has been involved in AI research for decades, notably by funding machine learning and other AI research in its national labs. It also has a long history of regulating dual-use technology through its oversight over nuclear research and weapons stockpiles. Some experts expect DOE to play a significant role in AI policy given both its research investments and its unique position at the intersection of domestic science/technology policy and national security.

In 2019, DOE established the Office for Artificial Intelligence and Technology (AI) to coordinate AI efforts across the labs and the Department. In 2023, DOE replaced this office with the Office for Critical and Emerging Technology (CET), following President Biden’s October 2023 Executive Order on AI (EO). The EO requires DOE to:

1. establish a pilot program for AI talent development with the goal of training 500 new researchers by 2025,
2. write a report on AI’s potential to improve the electric grid and permitting processes,
3. develop tools to apply AI foundation models to basic and applied science,
4. develop DOE evals and testbeds for AI to evaluate the risk of outputs that could pose nuclear, chemical, biological, critical infrastructure, and energy-security threats.

Advances in the national labs

DOE has a long history of driving advances in earlier AI technologies (before machine learning) and in computing, including supercomputers. Many national labs have been involved in AI-related research, including (but not limited to) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBL), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL).

One of DOE’s most notable AI-related efforts involves investment in supercomputing. In 2018, ORNL announced the procurement of the world’s most advanced supercomputer (Summit) in partnership with IBM. Since then, ANL has also partnered with Intel to train the second-largest supercomputer, Aurora on language and scientific data to produce AuroraGPT.

Other research on neural network architectures, learning methodologies, AI applications, and AI’s societal impacts are underway at various other labs. More information about how the national labs are involved in research on emerging technologies can be found in our national labs and FFRDC guide.

Major recent AI-related developments at DOE

Recent highlights are listed below (not comprehensive):

DOE offices working on AI policy and research

There are several DOE offices and components relevant to AI development and policy (non-exhaustive):

DOE and biosecurity policy and research

DOE’s resources, infrastructure, and expertise in scientific research and national security allow the Department to support federal biosecurity efforts. DOE’s network of national laboratories in particular play an important role in advancing technical solutions to biological threats.

DOE national labs involved in biosecurity research include (non-exhaustive list):

• Sandia National Laboratories: has a significant biological research mission including a specific focus area on biodefense & emerging infectious disease. Their work includes biomanufacturing and biodefense research, synthetic biology and gene-editing, infectious disease technology, computational biology and bioinformatics, and developing biosensors and diagnostic devices.
• Los Alamos National Laboratory: includes biosecurity and emerging threats preparedness in its strategic lab agenda, aimed at reducing natural and deliberate biological threats through drug discovery and development, creation of biological research tools, DNA sequencing and bioinformatics, and artificial human organ systems for research. Los Alamos has a National Security Life Sciences program, which houses a Biodefense Research Center and a Global Disease Modeling and Forecasting Center.
• Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory: includes a research focus area on bioscience and bioengineering, studying underlying mechanisms of disease, engineering microbial communities, and addressing biosecurity, health and ecological threats. Home to the Center for Bioengineering, Forensic Science Center, and the Select Agent Center.
• Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory: conducts research in biomanufacturing and is home to the Joint Genome Institute, which focuses on genomic innovation.
• Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: has a program on Chemical and Biothreat Signatures, including projects on Pathogen Science and Detection and Threat-Agnostic Biodefense.
• Argonne National Laboratory: has a Biosecurity program among its National Security Programs, which “uses new computational and experimental tools to detect engineered biological systems and monitor their potential to spread disease.”
• Brookhaven National Laboratory: leads a research effort focused on biosecurity for bioenergy crops. 

2022 National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan

In 2022, the White House published the government-wide National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan, which provides a helpful overview of the role of various departments and agencies in US biosecurity planning. DOE plays a key supporting role across each of the plan’s five goals.

Major recent biosecurity-related developments at DOE

Following the 2001 anthrax attacks, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory collaborated and contributed to the development of the Biological Aerosol Sentry and Information System (BASIS), a field-ready detection system for pathogens and a precursor to the Homeland Security (DHS) BioWatch program. DOE’s labs continue to collaborate with agencies like DHS to advance biosecurity efforts. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, DOE established the National Virtual Biotechnology Laboratory (NVBL), through the 2020 CARES Act, leveraging its access to some of the world’s fastest supercomputers to develop complex epidemiological models and additive manufacturing capabilities to alleviate shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) and other supplies. DOE also established the COVID-19 Technical Assistance Program (CTAP) to provide funding to assist non-DOE entities in their efforts to combat the pandemic. See the DOE Office of Science video on the Department’s response to the pandemic. 

Additional recent highlights are listed below (not comprehensive):

DOE offices working on biosecurity policy and research

Beyond DOE’s national labs, the Department has several offices relevant to biosecurity (non-exhaustive):

Working at DOE

DOE hires applicants from a wide range of backgrounds, ranging from law and consulting to science, technology, and academia. One common path to working at DOE is its ORISE STEM Internships and Fellowships. Interns and fellows are placed in offices around the Department, and many are able to transition into full-time jobs afterward. Another great early-career opportunity are the NNSA Post-Bachelor’s and Graduate Fellowship Programs, run by Pacific Northwest National Lab and sponsored by DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Additional fellowships that facilitate placements at DOE and other agencies to consider are the Presidential Management Fellowship, AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, and the Horizon Fellowship (see full policy fellowship database here).

The national labs employ a lot of scientists (often with STEM degrees) as contractors (not federal employees) and they also offer many policy-oriented “analyst” roles. Advantages of working for the national labs include being able to work on some of the most cutting-edge scientific research, with access to advanced DOE technologies and the opportunity to collaborate with scientists across the DOE laboratory network. Also, after working at a national lab for several years, there are often opportunities to transition into government.

To find open positions at DOE, visit USAJOBS filtering for “Department of Energy”, and check out its Careers page, which may include postings not listed on USAJOBS. You can also follow DOE on LinkedIn to stay updated about their activities and new job postings. If you’re looking for DOE internships, fellowships, and other early-career opportunities, check out the Federal Internship Finder and the USAJOBS Federal Internship Portal, and filter for “Department of Energy”.

If you want to apply, check out our federal agency application advice section for guides to USAJOBS, federal resumes, interviewing for federal positions, and more.

Further reading

• General DOE resources:
  • Dep. of Energy Agency Performance Dashboard, Partnership for Public Service
• AI:
  • 2023 AI use case inventory, Department of Energy
  • Testimony of Helena Fu Director, Office of Critical and Emerging Technologies, U.S. Department of Energy, House Committee on Energy & Commerce (December 2023)
  • AI Risk Management Playbook, Department of Energy
  • AI for Science, Energy, and Security Report, Argonne National Lab (May 2023)
• Biosecurity:
  • Video highlighting the National Labs’ role in the COVID-19 response, Department of Energy
  • Key US Initiatives for Addressing Biological Threats, Council on Strategic Risks (2021)

Footnotes

Other agency profiles

Department of Commerce (DOC)

Department of Defense (DOD)

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)

Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Department of State (DOS)

Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

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