The energy secretary’s job title has always been a bit of a misnomer. Nearly two-thirds of the department’s budget has nothing to do with energy. Instead, it is devoted to taking care of the nation’s nuclear weapons stockpile — and cleaning up radioactive waste from old weapons development sites. That nuclear expertise has catapulted Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, a physicist from MIT, from a Cabinet backwater to center stage in the negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. An unlikely breakout star, Moniz sports a long wavy mop of mostly white hair that has been compared to George Washington’s locks. The energy secretary is providing a knowledgable voice that the Obama administration hopes can reassure nervous members of Congress as they weigh the deal. Moniz is someone who “can take complex issues and make the lay person understand them,” said Carol Browner, who was the top White House adviser on energy […]