Refocus the national laboratories on basic research
What the document says“The remaining 14 science and energy labs should focus on basic research projects”
The department oversees 17 national laboratories. The chapter says the three run by the National Nuclear Security Administration should continue on national security, and that the other 14 should leave demonstration and deployment of technology to the private sector, realigning to limit duplication and mission creep.
What the document actually says“The remaining 14 science and energy labs should focus on basic research projects”
The other 14 labs should stick to basic research.
The government runs 17 research labs. Three work on weapons. The book says the rest should study basics only. Firms would handle the rest.
Read against the documents indexed here on August 26, 2026, and nothing was found that answers this. Executive Order 14363 of November 24, 2025 establishes the Genesis Mission and directs the Energy Secretary to build a platform tying together the national laboratories' supercomputers, data and research facilities and to name at least 20 national science and technology challenges for it. Executive Order 14301 of May 23, 2025 reforms how the department tests reactors and creates a pilot for reactors built outside the laboratories. Both act on what the laboratories do, but neither narrows the 14 science and energy laboratories to basic research, and neither tells them to leave demonstration and deployment to the private sector. That is a record of a search, not a finding that nothing has happened: an act this site does not hold, or one that answers the proposal in words unlike its own, would not be caught by it.