WASHINGTON – Two Montgomery County residents received presidential nominations to positions in the Department of Commerce within two weeks of each other, according to the White House.
Ray Kammer, nominated as director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and F. Amanda DeBusk, nominated as assistant secretary for Export Enforcement are both waiting to go before the Senate for confirmation.
Kammer, of Olney, Md., currently serves as chief financial officer, assistant secretary for administration, and information officer for the Department of Commerce.
He oversees the department’s budget and sets financial, administrative and information management policies.
Kammer also served as deputy director of NIST from 1980 to 1991 and from 1993 to present. In the interim, he served as deputy under secretary of commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.
Michael Rowe, director of the NIST Center for Neutron Research, collaborated with Kammer to obtain funding for new NIST activities, which “enables us to try new things we couldn’t do otherwise,” Rowe said.
“[Kammer is a] very quick study, intensely interested in the science,” Rowe said. “He is not a scientist… but he has knowledge as good as anybody’s.”
If confirmed by the Senate, Kammer will head a department with a $600 million budget and a staff of approximately 3,000.
The NIST works to promote U.S. economic growth through the development of technology, measurements and standards.
DeBusk, a Potomac, Md., native, is currently a partner in the international trade department for the Washington, D.C. law firm of O’Melveny & Myers. She has worked with clients involved in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the World Trade Organization and the North American Free Trade Agreement.
If confirmed, her role as assistant secretary will involve investigating breaches of U.S. export laws, monitoring for diversion risks and enforcing antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Act. President Clinton announced his intent to nominate Kammer Sept. 4 and Debusk Aug. 20. Neither nominee has been scheduled to go before the Senate for confirmation. Neither can offer comment until they are confirmed.