the committee is meeting today for both a business meeting and a hearing. we re going to begin by considering the nomination of david turk to be the deputy secretary of energy. i m going to start with my opening statement and then i ll turn it over to senator barrasso for his and then hopefully one more ready to roll. i was highly impressed with mr. turk at our hearing last week. he clearly has a firm grasp on the wide-range of issues facing the department of energy. he will bring a wealth of experience and he started his career working in the senate for our former colleague kent conrad who speaks very highly of him and then worked on the senate judiciary committee for senator biden. he held a series of national security and foreign affairs jobs in the house and state department and at the national security council. he spent two years as deputy assistant secretary in the department of energy and he has spent four years in senior positions at the international agency including
opening statement and then i ll turn it over to senator barrasso for his and then hopefully one more ready to roll. i was highly impressed with mr. turk at our hearing last week. he clearly has a firm grasp on the wide-range of issues facing the department of energy. he will bring a wealth of experience and he started his career working in the senate for our former colleague kent conrad who speaks very highly of him and then worked on the senate judiciary committee for senator biden. he held a series of national security and foreign affairs jobs in the house and state department and at the national security council. he spent two years as deputy assistant secretary in the department of energy and he has spent four years in senior positions at the international agency including the last 14 months as dr. brawl s deputy. quite simply, mr. turk has spent the last 20 years spent the jobs given him the practical experience in energy, national security and management that he will nee