It takes a lot of manpower to build a nation's economic and energy security. That's why there's the US Department of Energy. The DOE was established in 1977 by former president Jimmy Carter at a time when the US was facing a severe winter and fuel shortages that caused factory and school closings and threatened residential cutoffs. The DOE has four – more... key strategic initiatives: promoting a diverse supply of environmentally safe energy, supporting scientific and technological energy research, protecting the environment from the legacy of nuclear weapons production, and enabling the department's goals through upright management. The cabinet-level agency is a combination of 10 separate program offices. – less