The complete text of the letter follows:

January 31, 2008

Dear Colleagues,

Just before the December Holidays, I shared with you my vision for our final year together. Now that Budget Week is upon us, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit this topic and to share with you some new information.

Before I do that, let me address the coming departure of Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell. As most of you are aware, Clay has notified the President and me of his intention to leave the Department at the end of February. He has been a good and faithful partner in what we have tried to accomplish during my tenure, and I think we all owe him a great deal. He will be missed.

Nevertheless, we must continue to move ahead. In our last year together, the Department of Energy's mission will remain what it always has been during my tenure: discovering solutions to power and secure America's energy future.

The budget we are sending to Congress next week includes the largest requested increase in five years. It is a reflection of my confidence in you and in the level of performance shown throughout the DOE complex.

The funding increase will give us the support we need to continue to promote America's energy security by encouraging the development of reliable, clean, and affordable energy supplies and to strengthen U.S. competitiveness by leading in innovation and scientific discovery. It will allow us to continue to strengthen our vital role in national security and to continue providing responsible resolution for our environmental legacy. And it will do so because we practice sound management in ways that improve performance and accountability.

On Monday night, President George W. Bush delivered his final State of the Union message. In it, he spoke quite eloquently about the energy challenges we face as a nation as well as the need for a reliance on investment, science and innovation, and technology to show us the way ahead. And this is very much in line with my vision for our final year together.

In the coming year, I hope we will continue to carry out the Department's essential functions with the same degree of excellence I have come to expect from all of you. At the same time, I hope you will remain mindful of the fundamental energy challenges ahead of us, and how we must meet them by expanding and diversifying global energy supplies, suppliers, and supply routes.

The President, the American people, and I are all counting on you to do your very best. It has been my great honor and privilege to be the Energy Secretary over the last three years, and it will continue to be my honor during this final year.

Thank you.

Sam Bodman