The U.S. Department of Energy is refusing to reveal the names and other details related to taxpayer-financed trips taken by employees.

 

Information on more than 44,000 trips taken from January 2006 to September 2010 were missing the name of the traveler, the reason for the trip and the date of travel, according to JunketSleuth, which requested the records. Energy officials spent $286 million on the trips during the five-year period in question.

 

Among the most expensive trips by individuals with censored information was one for $21,178 to China; a $19,891 voyage to Texas, France and Great Britain; and a $17,971 journey with stops in Greece, Turkey, Italy and Turkmenistan.

 

The greatest number of redactions pertained to trips to Amarillo, Texas, where nuclear weapons are assembled and disassembled, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, home to the Sandia National Laboratories, a leading research center for military and civilian projects.

 

A department official said information was withheld on grounds of national security.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

The U.S. Department of Energy Doesn’t Want the American Public to Know the Identities of Many of Its Employees Who Took Taxpayer-Funded Trips (by Russell Carolo, JunketSleuth)