Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

mahatmakanejeeves

(57,396 posts)
Thu Jan 19, 2017, 11:53 AM Jan 2017

Learning Curve as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood

There's a thread in GD about an article about this article. Here is a link to the actual article in the SAD!! FAILING!!! New York Times:

‘Learning Curve’ as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood

By CORAL DAVENPORT and DAVID E. SANGER JAN. 18, 2017

@CoralMDavenport

@SangerNYT

WASHINGTON — When President-elect Donald J. Trump offered Rick Perry the job of energy secretary five weeks ago, Mr. Perry gladly accepted, believing he was taking on a role as a global ambassador for the American oil and gas industry that he had long championed in his home state. ... In the days after, Mr. Perry, the former Texas governor, discovered that he would be no such thing — that in fact, if confirmed by the Senate, he would become the steward of a vast national security complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal.

Two-thirds of the agency’s annual $30 billion budget is devoted to maintaining, refurbishing and keeping safe the nation’s nuclear stockpile; thwarting nuclear proliferation; cleaning up and rebuilding an aging constellation of nuclear production facilities; and overseeing national laboratories that are considered the crown jewels of government science.
....

Mr. Perry, who once called for the elimination of the Energy Department, will begin the confirmation process Thursday with a hearing before the Senate Energy Committee. If approved by the Senate, he will take over from a secretary, Ernest J. Moniz, who was chairman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics department and directed the linear accelerator at M.I.T.’s Laboratory for Nuclear Science. Before Mr. Moniz, the job belonged to Steven Chu, a physicist who won a Nobel Prize.

For Mr. Moniz, the future of nuclear science has been a lifelong obsession; he spent his early years working at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Mr. Perry studied animal husbandry and led cheers at Texas A&M University. ... Mr. Moniz had such deep experience with nuclear weapons that in 2015, President Obama made him a co-negotiator, along with Secretary of State John Kerry, of the Iran nuclear deal.
4 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Learning Curve as Rick Perry Pursues a Job He Initially Misunderstood (Original Post) mahatmakanejeeves Jan 2017 OP
Thank goodness he has glasses now The Blue Flower Jan 2017 #1
Glasses did nothing for Sarah Palin's intellectual ability. eom guillaumeb Jan 2017 #2
I wonder if he'll learn to pronounce "nuclear". JustABozoOnThisBus Jan 2017 #3
Governor Goodhair is too stupid for this job Gothmog Jan 2017 #4
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Learning Curve as Rick Pe...