Space Politics
While working on a recent article about Charles Bolden’s nomination to be NASA administrator, I checked out the latest report by the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), the independent review panel that Bolden has been a member of the last few years. There wasn’t much in the panel’s findings that could be directly tied to Bolden, but there was something else interesting in the 2008 report, published a little over a month ago: a memo from then-administrator Mike Griffin. The memo, dated November 10, 2008, responded to a set of questions posed by ASAP on “agency transition issues prior to the presidential transition” and could be, in a sense, be considered something of an exit interview by Griffin (although at the time he was still hoping to be retained by the incoming administration.)
Perhaps the most interesting question posed by ASAP is their request for the top five goals for the next administrator, since, as it turns out, ASAP’s membership included the person picked to be the next administrator. Griffin’s response, summarized:
Perhaps the most interesting question posed by ASAP is their request for the top five goals for the next administrator, since, as it turns out, ASAP’s membership included the person picked to be the next administrator. Griffin’s response, summarized:
