Well, sometimes reacting to breaking RUMINT (rumors intelligence) can put one out on a limb … and sometimes the limb breaks. Thus, my reporting that Dan Kammen would be one of three appointees into the Department of Energy was wrong. Have to wonder when and where Dan will end up in the Administration (perhaps advisory boards), but he won’t be the Assistant Secretary of Energy for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) in the Department of Energy.
This might be the single most important Assistant Secretary position in the entire Obama Administration. And, consider its import and the need to have someone who can truly hit the ground running, President Obama and Secretary Chu went with someone even stronger for the position (at this time) than Dan: Cathy Zoi.
Coming from heading the Alliance for Climate Protection, Cathy comes to the table with a long record of experience in both the workings of government and in the realms of environmental and energy policy. Thus, like David Sandalow, she enters the Department in a very strong position to be able to hit the ground running in bureaucratic and substantive terms. Thus, she will be able to “work” the (complicated, messy, and difficult) system.
In addition, Cathy is like many others entering the Obama Administration. Like a Sandalow … Van Jones … and others, Cathy is articulate, has substantive knowledge and experience, and speaks with passion. She will be able to manage and lead EERE — and speak powerfully to audiences, whether internal DOE staff, other agencies, state & local governments, businesses, community groups, the general public, …
Thus, mea culpa to Dan, Cathy, and readers for getting this wrong.
But, it is reasonably nice to get something wrong and still be able to report good news while admitting the error.
3 responses so far ↓
1 Energy: Three Energizing Appointments … Update … Or Two? // Mar 29, 2009 at 8:27 am
[…] Dan Kammen: Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (or, sign, maybe not … [UPDATE: Cathy Zoi appointed. A Mea Culpa and congrats. […]
2 SW // Mar 31, 2009 at 6:44 am
She has a lot of housecleaning to do. The Bush administration basically turned EERE into a money laundering operation. They would have killed it if they could but they were under political pressure to increase spending on renewables. This was basically contrary to their instincts you might say, so they went about destroying the mission by other means. She will need the ability to see through the Powerpoint presentations that her managers will show her detailing the accomplishments of the past eight years and be prepared to do some bloodletting if she wishes to accomplish her goals.
3 Paying attention to “friends” // Apr 14, 2009 at 2:16 pm
[…] on in the real world. Scientific developments. Discussing meaningful Congressional legislation. Obama Administration appointments. Statements from Administration officials, and the President himself. Achievements […]