When the Department of Energy announced last week that the No. 2 official of its nuclear security agency, Frank Rose, was leaving, his boss issued an internal memo calling him an “empathetic, candid, and action-oriented leader who always thought of the whole team.”
Left unsaid were the complaints about Rose’s behavior that had led to an internal investigation into allegations of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment, according to eight current and former government officials familiar with the matter, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
The investigation into Rose, the principal deputy administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, was launched earlier this year by DOE’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, according to two of the officials, one a current and the other a former NNSA employee. POLITICO also obtained an email from one of the investigators from the office, in which that person asked a former NNSA employee for an interview.
The March email, which did not mention Rose by name, said the office “has been tasked with conducting an independent fact-finding review regarding allegations of harassment or hostile work environment at the NNSA.”
