Sailors Aren’t Born. They’re Forged.
ON AUTOPILOT: Sean Cunningham, the head
of the Energy Department's policy office, held firm to agency talking points
Monday when he defended Energy Secretary Rick Perry's controversial grid
resilience plan at a National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners
gathering in Baltimore: Coal and nuclear plants "came to the rescue"
during the 2014 "polar vortex"; the grid is a "paramount
national security issue"; and that "both of these resources need to
be revived, not reviled," he said. When state commissioners asked about
cost estimates, Cunningham countered with a response about the potential cost
of not rescuing economically struggling plants. And when asked about whether
the grid plan should be narrowed to a particular set of plants necessary for
resilience, Cunningham basically said the proposal was narrowly written.
The press didn't have any better luck. When
reporters gathered around him, one asked why DOE officials like to reference
the polar vortex. "Please just read the text of the NOPR and the
accompanying letter [covers] all this," Cunningham said before taking off.
[POLITICO's Morning Energy, November 14, 2017]
DOE nominees announced: Trump announced Wednesday his selection of John Vonglis, a
senior adviser with Cross Range Capital, a private equity firm in New York, as
the Energy Department's chief financial officer. He also tapped Melissa
Burnison, currently the Nuclear Energy Institute's director of federal affairs,
as the agency's head of congressional affairs. [POLITICO's Morning Energy,
November 16, 2017]
TRUMP TAPS LOBBYIST FOR ENERGY DEPARTMENT: President Donald Trump will
nominate Melissa Burnison as the Energy Department's head of
congressional affairs, POLITICO's Darius Dixon reports.
"Burnison, who will be nominated as the DOE assistant secretary for
congressional intergovernmental affairs, is [the Nuclear Energy
Institute]'s director of federal affairs. Before NEI, she was a senior
advisor at [the Energy Department] and with the House Natural Resources
Committee." [POLITICO Influence, November 16, 2017]
Finally, lawmakers highlighted "the importance of the role of the federal CIO in
protecting federal assets and information and strengthening the federal
government's overall cybersecurity infrastructure." Ten months into his
administration, President Donald Trump still has not nominated someone for that
post. [POLITICO's Morning Cybersecurity, November 21, 2017]
TROUBLING SIGN IN CHINESE HACKING CASE - The
Justice Department tried and failed to get Beijing's help with locating and
apprehending three Chinese hackers who stole sensitive data from the
manufacturing giant Siemens and two American companies, a DOJ spokesman told MC
on Monday. The Trump administration on Monday unsealed charges against the three
hackers for allegedly breaching Siemens, Moody's Analytics and the GPS services
firm Trimble. During an October meeting of U.S. and Chinese officials to
discuss law enforcement and cybersecurity matters, DOJ asked the Chinese
delegation for help with the case. "We received no meaningful response,"
said DOJ spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle in an email. The revelation suggests that
cybercrime-related cooperation between the two major cyber powers has not
improved significantly since a 2015 agreement meant to strengthen that
dialogue.
"The voters who
backed Donald Trump like the
disruption but are looking for more function... members of the USA TODAY
Network Trump Voter Panel say. ... 'All the bickering, fighting and firings
take time away from solving all of our problems.'"
State
switches out delegation head: The State Department said Tuesday that Thomas
Shannon, under secretary for political affairs, won't be able to make it to the
Bonn talks, where he was supposed to lead the United States' delegation to the
negotiations. In a statement, State
cited a "family emergency" in saying Shannon wouldn't attend.
Instead, Judith Garber, acting assistant secretary for oceans and international
environmental and scientific affairs, will lead the contingent from Wednesday
through Friday. [Overnight Energy, November 14, 2017]
“In a Nov. 2 interview, Trump responded to a question about unfilled positions at the State Department by stating, ‘I’m the only one that matters.’”
Brown signs bill to protect workers from ICE
raids: California Gov. Jerry Brown's pushback against
Trump administration policy continued Thursday when he signed into law a bill
to require employers - farmers and ranchers included - to ask for a warrant when
federal immigration enforcement authorities conduct workplace raids. [POLITICO's Morning Agriculture, October 6, 2017]
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ASIA |
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
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