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Secretary of Energy in the Hot Seat

Spencer Abraham

Q&A with Spencer Abraham

By Neela Banerjee

Spencer Abraham, former Republican senator from Michigan, became one of the highest-ranking Arab Americans in the United States government when he was sworn in as the new Secretary of Energy in January. A third-generation Lebanese American, Abraham made a name for himself as the first Republican senator to represent Michigan in 22 years. In the Senate, he was a leader on issues of free trade and authored a number of innovative high-tech policies. The chair of the Immigration sub-committee, Abraham was a strong voice in opposing measures to enforce laws against illegal immigration. He led efforts to increasing the number of skilled workers immigrating into the country.

As Secretary of Energy, Abraham has stepped onto the hot plate as he faces the nationwide energy crisis. In addition, he has had to deal with security policies at the Department of Energy that some say target Asian Americans. These issues were brought to the community’s attention by the Wen Ho Lee case. And the department faced further criticism from the API community this spring when it was reported that Congressman David Wu, D-Oregon, was stopped and questioned about his citizenship while attempting to enter the Department of Energy building.

While in California planning to give a speech on the nation’s energy crisis, Abraham met exclusively with AsianWeek to discuss what he is doing to ensure that the Department of Energy is free of discrimination and racial profiling.

AsianWeek: Are you the only Arab American who has ever served in the cabinet?

Spencer Abraham: I think there may have been one or two others of Arab ancestry in previous cabinets. We are very excited as a community to have a chance to be in these positions. I’m very proud of my heritage. When I was in the Senate, I chaired the Senate’s sub-committee on immigration and did a lot of work on immigration issues. These were things that were important to my family. The experience of my grandparents is the reason my family was able to come to America, and protecting and preserving that fact for future immigrants to come here was really a priority for me.

AW: What are you doing to make sure racial profiling does not happen at the Department of Energy?

SA: I have told a number of groups and individuals about my own experiences over the past couple of years. In Michigan, the Arab American community is a very large community but also one that has been targeted itself in profiling incidents, especially in airports, and in other contexts as well. I myself have even felt it. When I travel outside the D.C.-to-Detroit route, that I used to travel every week as a senator, I would see it. In fact, here in San Francisco, on three consecutive trips to the international airport, my bag was taken away from me for special x-ray examinations by security. Supposedly, I had been randomly selected, but I suspect my appearance and surname may have played a role in it.

So, our community is deeply affected by these things, and it is something I have had very little tolerance for in my personal life and my role in the Senate. It is something I don’t particularly appreciate hearing as a problem at the Department of Energy.

In the short time I have been [in my position], there are really two things I have done in trying to be responsive. When I came to the job I was aware of the Wen Ho Lee case and everything that happened around it. There was an inspector general’s investigation going on over the past year looking into security measures and the Lee investigation. I was informed by the inspector general that after a very extensive study, there was no specific pattern of discrimination. At least that was their conclusion. What I decided to do at the time was not simply let the inspector general’s report stand as a statement that everything was fine at the department. I felt that this would send a wrong signal to my managers, various department heads and so on. So, I simultaneously, with the release of the inspector general’s report, issued a statement, a very explicit statement, to everybody in the department that we were not going to tolerate discrimination in any form.

I did not disregard the statement of the report, but I didn’t give anybody from the Secretary on down, any reason to relax their vigilance or to conduct themselves in any way that would be consistent with the law and the way people deserved to be treated.

AW: How can the report be true when you look at what happened to Congressman Wu?

SA: When we had the case with Congressman Wu, I went up right [up to him] after that happened, and personally dropped by his office to both apologize and ask for his advice.

I did two things in response. First, I ordered the independent oversight office of our department to conduct a specific examination of the security situation that affected him coming into the building. But Congressman Wu encouraged me to look into this, and I agreed with him, not as the scenario of a Congressman who comes into the garage area and is asked about his citizenship, but rather to consider the macro issue about what we can do and what we should be doing as a department to try to address whatever form of underlying problems exist.

Secondly, I asked the head of the National Nuclear Security administration, General John Gordon, who has responsibility for all the labs, including Los Alamos and Livermore, to put together a comprehensive review of the situation, [and] to consult with Congressman Wu, and ask his advice for actions we should consider. I then met with the representatives from a number of Asian American organizations, with people that have a lot of insight and have heard a lot of the concerns expressed to them. I asked Norm Mineta and Elaine Chao to likewise contribute to the recommendations I’ve asked for in General Gordon’s review. We are close to finishing that process and when we do, my plan is to implement the recommendations that I am presented with.

I would also note that my concerns go beyond those that would affect the Asian American community, although that is where we recognize that we have a challenge. Certainly, we have other ethnic groups that are represented in the Department who have brought other concerns to my attention.

AW: When do you see this action being put in place?

SA: We don’t have our director for our office of Economic Diversity confirmed by the Senate yet, but when she is — then that will give me a specific person who is in charge of these issues. It is an ongoing issue and challenge for us. There have been a lot of studies in the past, and people in affected communities, and myself as an Arab American, have felt the need to stop the studies and start implementing the recommendations. That is really what I intend to do. We hope that we get good advice from those we’re consulting with and once we get it, we can translate it into action. I am hoping to get the process finished very soon — in the next few weeks.

AW: After that, what do you think it will take for these kinds of problems to stop?

SA: These concerns about discrimination or racial profiling or unfair treatment aren’t ones that are simply to be delegated to the Office of Economic Diversity and everyone else is just exculpated from responsibility. It is something that everyone in the Department has to take responsibility for, or else it won’t work. We can do all kinds of things in terms of studies, we can talk to people, we can try and learn about some of the problems, but if it is only confined to one office, it won’t address the problem.

One thing that is of great concern to me, I want the Department of Energy to be a place where people want to work. I want the very talented and able people from the Asian community, the Arab community and other communities, who bring tremendous science and mathematics skills and new technology, computer science backgrounds … to come to work in our labs. We have a real challenge, not just because of these issues, but in general, and if we find ourselves unable to recruit particularly from the Asian American community, then I think the Department of Energy will suffer for that.