I. INTRODUCTION The nuclear data ensemble (NDE) [1, 2] is a set of 1407 resonance energies consisting of 30 sequences in 27 different nuclides. The ensemble was assembled to test predictions of random matrix theory (RMT) [3]. Fluctuation properties of resonance energies in the NDE were found to be in remarkably close agreement with RMT predictions for the Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE). Although there have been several other successful tests of RMT using nuclear resonances (e.g., [4, 5]),the NDE is perhaps the most important because, as stated in Ref. [3], ”As a result of these analyses, it became generally accepted that proton and neutron resonances in medium weight and heavy nuclei agree with GOE predictions.” Hence, the NDE routinely is cited as providing striking confirmation of RMT. Reduced neutron widths (Γ 0 $_{n}$) have been reported for a subset of 1245 resonances in the NDE of Ref. [2], consisting of 14 to 178 measurements for 24 nuclides. If the GOE correctly describes the data, RMT predicts these widths should follow a χ 2 distribution having one degree of freedom ( ν = 1) - the Porter Thomas distribution (PTD). It has be argued that the PTD is more generally valid [6] and more robust [7] than other RMT predictions. Also, it has been demonstrated [8] that a much more reliable analysis of spectra fluctuations can be performed using neutron widths than using resonance energies. In addition, it has been shown [9] that resonance width fluctuations are more sensitive than energy fluctuations to the degree of chaos in model quantum systems. In addition, it is straightforward [10] to account for experimental effects such as missed or spurious resonances, and to use the statistically efficient maximum-likelihood (ML) method while using width data, but the same cannot be said for energy data. For these reasons, a test of the PTD using the NDE neutron widths could be very valuable. In Ref. [2] such a test on a subset of the NDE data was described from which it was concluded that there was satisfactory accord between theory and experiment. However, there are several problems with the analysis of Ref. [2], which I will describe below. I find that when the data are analyzed more carefully, they do not agree with the PTD. I will show below that the NDE suffers from significant p -wave contamination. For such resonances, reported reduced neutron widths Γ 0 n are actually only ”effective” reduced widths g Γ$_{n}$ $_{/}$√$_{E}$$_{n}$$_{, where}$ g = 2 J +1 (2 I +1)(2 j +1) (with J , I , and j being spins of the resonance, target, and neutron, respectively) is the spin statistical factor. All s -wave resonances for NDE nuclides 2