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New NASA Admin Griffin Cleans House

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the big-changes dept.

Doug Dante writes "Michael D. Griffin, the new NASA Administrator, has given 20 senior NASA officials their walking papers, in a first purge that can see as many as 50 loose their positions, reports the Washington Post. Included are Associate Administrator for Space Operations William F. Readdy, and his deputy Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael C. Kostelnik (retired)."

7 of 299 comments (clear)

  1. Baby & bathwater... by jpellino · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How about you get thru the current Mars & Cassini missions and GET THE SHUTTLE BACK UP before you sack the leaders of those three programs - two of which are very big loud & public successes (in NASA-land anyway) and the third had better be or else you'll be looking at barely enough authorization funds to make with two large-ish slingshots.

    --
    "Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
  2. Re:Will they bring in _real_ engineers now? by CyricZ · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It really doesn't matter what school they graduated from. As long as their background is in engineering, rather than political pandering, then things will improve at NASA. Real engineers practicing real engineering will prevent probes from being lost on a routine basis, and space shuttles from blowing up every so often.

    --
    Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
  3. what are your thoughts on..... by tloh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I wonder what Griffin, as a genuine no nonsense space scientist would make of the rants that appear on slashdot from time to time among space enthusiasts. If any of the folks who run slashdot can score an interview with him, I have a ton of questions I would like the head of NASA to address. Hey, it's possible right? As a public official, public relations are an integral part of his job. I believe he would have to regard a high profile mob like slashdot as a sort of "constituency" he needs to take seriously.

    --
    Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
  4. Re:Preparing for a more military-centric NASA? by Edward+Ka-Spel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Make NASA more military-centric? Most of the people being canned are ex-military generals. The stated plan of Griffin is to make NASA more engineering and science driven. If anything, it sounds the opposite.

  5. Re:Preparing for a more military-centric NASA? by BDew · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Mod parent up!

    Leaving - Sean O'Keefe: Former Secretary of the Navy.
    Adm (Ret.) Craig Steidle.
    Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Michael Kostelnik.

    Most of the military folks O'K brought in are being swept out by Griffin.

    --
    "Fifty million Americans can't be wrong," said Rep. Billy Tauzin. Gore - 50,999,897 Bush - 50,456,002
  6. Apparently they "politically affiliated" already by jesterzog · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Does anyone have the political affiliations of the people who were fired?

    I don't know specifically about their affiliations, but if you trust the article, page 2 says:

    Instead, the sources said, [Griffin] expressed dismay that NASA over the past several years had put a lot of people in top management positions because of what one source described as "political connections or bureaucratic gamesmanship -- not merit."

    Several sources spoke of a corps of younger scientists and engineers, including Griffin, who had been groomed in the 1970s and 1980s as NASA's next generation of leaders only to be shoved aside during the past 15 years. They said Griffin hopes to bring them back.

    In principle, this sounds like a very good thing. Apparently, he's kicking out people whom he believes were hired more for their political affiliations than their competance. Before taking this as it's written, however, can anyone comment on any political affiliations of Griffin himself? For all we know, and as I think you're implying, his definition of competance might be synonymous with republican.

  7. Re:Begins the glut of spelling nazis at NASA by dbIII · · Score: 3, Interesting
    as many as 50 loose their positions
    Cry havoc! And let loose the jobs of war!

    To those who correct spelling an grammar on the net, you are the unorthodox ones. The language of the net is broken english and your dictionary does not apply beyond your border.