Response of NASA's Griffin to Orlando Sentinel article

William Atkins
Monday, 08 September 2008 22:23

Science - Space

The waiver involves: “The Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000 (INA) was enacted to help stop foreign transfers to Iran of weapons of mass destruction, missile technology, and advanced conventional weapons technology, particularly from Russia. Section 6 of the INA banned U.S. payments to Russia in connection with the International Space Station (ISS) unless the U.S. President determined that Russia was taking steps to prevent such proliferation."

It continues, "When the President in 2004 announced that the Space Shuttle would be retired in 2010, the Russian Soyuz became the only vehicle available after that date to transport astronauts to and from the ISS. In 2005 Congress amended INA to exempt Soyuz flights to the ISS from the Section 6 ban through 2011. It also extended the provisions to Syria and North Korea, and renamed it the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA).” [Federation of American Scientists: “Extending NASA’s Exemption from the Iran, North Korea, and Syria Nonproliferation Act”]

Additional information about INKSNA is found on the SpacePolitics.com website “Griffin skeptical about INKSNA waiver extension.”

Part of the SpacePolitics.com article states, “In interviews with CBS News and Florida Today, Griffin said that a lack of action by Congress to pass the extension [INKSNA], exacerbated by the Russian-Georgian conflict last month, made him doubtful the extension would be approved by the end of the year—which means, given the three-year lead time needed to build Soyuz vehicles, that there will be no US or other non-Russian crew on the station after the end of 2011.”

The OSTP is the Office of Science and Technology Policy, which advises the president of the United States on science and technology issues, and the OMB is the Office of Management and Budget, which designs and submits to the president of the United States the proposed annual budget that is sent to the U.S. Congress for approval.