William Atkins
Sunday, 16 November 2008 22:43
Science -
Space
Page 4 of 5
The Houston Chronicle article “
NASA chief doubts he'll keep job during Obama administration” talks about Griffin’s comment:
"We certainly can't get by on any less than we are doing. I certainly don't want to be a figure head for claiming we can do something we can't."
Griffin noted that the United States has already tried to run NASA with bean-counters and political-types.
He exclaims,
“We have done that experiment at NASA — to see if people who don't know anything about the space business can run NASA. It didn't work. I know how to fail. Just pick the wrong people, and you are doomed."
Thus, Griffin also said his fourth requirement for him to stay at the NASA helm would be to have complete control over selecting management jobs at NASA. He is totally against having political appointees at such positions.
Grifin stated,
"I think it's crucially important to have people ... who are knowledgeable and experienced in the aerospace business. In past years, we've had too many examples where that wasn't the case.” [Reuters]
He added, "
The Bush administration did not mandate even one person that I had to have to fill out the NASA management team, so I was able to pick a good team and that's absolutely essential for any agency. We can't pick people to run the space agency based on politics, and I won't be party to that either." [Reuters]
The Houston Chronicle reported about Griffin's opinion of NASA today:
“We are in a good policy direction right now. NASA, in my view, for the first time since the Nixon administration, is doing the right things, and also doing things right."
My recommendations are on page five.
