How many U.S. National Laboratories are there?

There are 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories, run by 16 management-and-operating (M&O) contractors. NETL is the only lab operated directly by the federal government rather than an FFRDC contractor.

How much do the National Labs spend on communications?

Communications budgets are not separately disclosed. They are absorbed inside operating overhead at each lab under the M&O contract, whose fee averages less than 3.5% of operating costs — making lab communications spend structurally different from a federal agency public-affairs office.

Who produced the National Lab Communications Study 2026?

EPR Research and 5W AI Communications produced the study — the first systematic mapping of communications operations across all 17 DOE National Laboratories.

Research Report/AI Communications

The National Lab Communications Study 2026

Q: Who runs communications across the National Labs?

Each lab runs its own communications and public affairs office, and the 17 labs coordinate strategy through the National Laboratories Chief Communications Officers (NLCCO) working group under the National Laboratory Directors' Council.

The 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories run one of the world's largest scientific communications enterprises — with the budgets buried inside operating overhead. EPR Research and 5W map the system for the first time.

EPR Editorial TeamMay 8, 2026 4 min read

vintage rotary telephone on a dusty desk with a stack of blurred scientific journals in the background, a symbol of old commu

7,000

ORNL has more than staff under Director Stephen K

The 17 U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories operate one of the largest scientific communications enterprises in the world. The lab system is run by 16 management-and-operating contractors under contracts whose communications budgets are buried inside operating overhead. The labs coordinate communications strategy through the National Laboratories Chief Communications Officers (NLCCO) working group.

EPR Research and 5W today released The National Lab Communications Study 2026, the first systematic mapping of the communications operations across the 17 DOE National Laboratories.

The 17 Labs

Lab	State	Mission	M&O Contractor
Argonne	Illinois	Science	UChicago Argonne LLC
Brookhaven	New York	Science	Brookhaven Science Associates
Fermilab	Illinois	Science	Fermi Research Alliance
Lawrence Berkeley	California	Science	UC Regents
Oak Ridge	Tennessee	Science	UT-Battelle
Pacific Northwest	Washington	Science	Battelle
Princeton Plasma Physics	New Jersey	Science	Princeton University
SLAC	California	Science	Stanford University
Thomas Jefferson	Virginia	Science	Jefferson Science Associates
Ames	Iowa	Science	Iowa State University
Idaho	Idaho	Energy	Battelle Energy Alliance
NETL	Multi-state	Energy	Federal (only non-FFRDC)
NREL	Colorado	Energy	Alliance for Sustainable Energy
Lawrence Livermore	California	Nuclear Security	Lawrence Livermore National Security
Los Alamos	New Mexico	Nuclear Security	Triad National Security
Sandia	New Mexico/California	Nuclear Security	National Technology and Engineering Solutions
Savannah River	South Carolina	Environment	Battelle Savannah River Alliance

The Communications Cost Structure Is Hidden in the M&O Contract

Per DOE's Office of Laboratory Policy: M&O contractors are paid an annual fee that averages less than 3.5 percent of operating costs across the system. Communications, public affairs, government relations, and protocol functions are not separately billed line items in DOE's published budget — they are absorbed within operating overhead at each lab. This is materially different from a federal agency public-affairs office.

The Coordinating Body Almost No One Knows

The 17 labs operate a coordinated communications working group under the National Laboratory Directors' Council (NLDC): the National Laboratories Chief Communications Officers (NLCCO) working group. NLCCO is the peer body for U.S. federally funded science communications — and it is not widely covered in the trade press.

How the Top Labs Structure Communications

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL): Communications is housed within the Office of Government and External Affairs (OGEA), led by Senior Director Ashley Bahney. Communications director Breanna Bishop oversees integrated internal and external communications, coordinating with local communities, the State of California, NNSA, DoD, and the intelligence community.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL): Communications is led by David Keim, running the Communications and Community Engagement Directorate. ORNL has more than 7,000 staff under Director Stephen K. Streiffer.

Argonne, Berkeley, Brookhaven, Fermilab, SLAC, Pacific Northwest: Each operates a standalone Communications and Public Affairs office. University-affiliated labs interlock communications staff with the parent university's news operation.

Why This Matters for the Communications Industry

1. The labs are a primary buyer of science communications talent. The combined U.S. National Lab system employs an estimated 250–500 communications professionals across the 17 labs — larger than every U.S. media outlet covering science combined.

2. The Genesis Mission and AI infrastructure announcements run through the labs. DOE's Genesis Mission leverages more than 100 petabytes of experimental and simulation data. The labs are the on-the-ground voice of U.S. AI compute infrastructure.

3. The labs absorb politicized messaging risk. Under the second Trump administration, DOE's Office of Communications and Public Affairs has been featured in messaging on "American Energy Dominance." The communications pressure on lab CCOs is meaningfully higher than at typical federal agencies.

4. M&O contract recompetes are reputational events. M&O recompetes are a recurring driver of communications activity and lab brand identity.

The Bottom Line

The U.S. National Lab system is one of the largest, best-funded, and least-trade-press-covered science communications operations in the world. Every comms agency working with universities, federal contractors, energy companies, AI infrastructure clients, or science publishers has reason to understand how the lab communications complex actually operates.

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