Via James Fallows, a 2004 interview with Energy Secretary Designate Steven Chu from Harry Kreisler’s “Conversations With History” series at UC Berkeley:
Also a further thought on Chu. When his appointment was announced, I observed that the Secretary of Energy doesn’t actually have the sort of sweeping authority over energy policy issues that the title implies to many people. It was observed to me by a correspondent that Chu’s background as a research scientist, rather than say in economics or public policy, actually makes him quite well-suited to the realities of the job as various endeavors in the research and innovation fields are probably the most important programs the Energy Department actually runs.
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