An Open Letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden

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Concerned_About_NASA

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An Open Letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
July 26, 2010

Dear Administrator Bolden:

Congress has recently voted on legislation which will put NASA on a sensible path, which Congress, the White House and NASA can all use so the space agency can move beyond its current malaise to a bright future.

It’s quite clear to everyone the primary cause of this malaise is your Deputy, Lori Garver.

Now that Congress has spoken it’s time for you to take action and remove Ms. Garver. It’s time for you to have a heart to heart, one on one, with President Obama and tell him why she needs to go.

At the same time, take the opportunity to request that the President remove the co-architects of the disastrous FY 2011 budget and plan, Jim Kohlenberger of OSTP and Paul Shawcross of OMB.

Beth Robinson, NASA CFO, has been an active participant in the plan and its execution, especially the effort to reduce in size and scope critical space exploration contracts, clearly going against the will of Congress, if not the letter of the law. Ms. Robinson should be reassigned.

Everyone knows when you were offered the job as Administrator you had no choice in terms of picking a Deputy, you were assigned Ms. Garver. The ill conceived plan she and her allies developed, which you were not read-in on until the last minute before budget release in February, infuriated Congress.

Ms. Garver chose to leak the plan to her friends in the press before allowing you to pre-brief NASA’s best allies in Congress. Democrats in particular were offended. The Garver “plan” was so ill conceived and communicated Congress responded with a fury which NASA had never even remotely experienced before.

Fortunately for the country, Congress has provided the leadership which was so sorely lacking in the Garver initiative. There is one simple question for you, Mr. Administrator. Isn’t it time to remove Ms. Garver? Isn’t it time to remove the chief instigator for this mess? Isn’t it time to reset relations with Congress? There is no better single step you can take to send a very clear signal to Congress it’s a new dawn by removing Ms. Garver, and respectfully requesting President Obama do the same with Mr. Kohlenberger and Mr. Shawcross.

You deserve a Deputy you can trust and count on to ensure NASA and the United States stay at the forefront of Space Exploration.

Sincerely,
Concerned for NASA
 
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sftommy

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what a load of crap!

The luddites will destroy the looms of tomorrow and in the end...

the prophets/profits of innovation will bring something greater about.

Don't be afraid of Lori's vision
it holds the greatest of opportunities
 
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vulture4

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The writer of this letter doesn't speak for the entire space community, at least not for me, and I've been a space advocate since Sputnik, including years working at the grass roots as a local chapter leader in L-5, and a full-time space worker for almost a quarter century. I've even had the chance to meet the past two administrators. Here's my opinion:

Lori Garver is the first person in a leadership position at NASA in decades who has a clear vision of humanity's future in space, competent technical understanding, and a boatload of common sense. We've seen Dan Golden abuse subordinates, Mike Griffin claim global warming was good for us and throw away our human launch capability, and Charlie Bolden claim the Orion would carry seven and pantomine Russian roulette while discussing the Shuttle. When has Garver made a misstep, other than to underestimate the ruthless political power and disdain for leadership that the Constellation contractors and advocates within NASA would demonstrate? Now that we've lost Shuttle, we absolutely need RLV and Commercial. It's time to let some people with new ideas and imagination show what they can do. And Lori Garver is the leader NASA needs to make it happen. Bolden is a sincere leader and a nice guy, and it was unfair of Obama to pick him when Garver was the one he listened too, but if Bolden is going to keep his job he needs to treat Garver as a partner, not a rival.
 
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sftommy

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Bolden and Garver are, I think, wearing the right hats.

Bolden is the soldier, the administrator, up for the fight, keeping it all on course...

Garver is the thinker, need not be distracted by the fight so much, but with a clear vision of the course

I hope they get along, I've never seen any negative characterization of their relationship, they easily compliment each other in terms of innate abilities.
 
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Concerned_About_NASA

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Second Open Letter to NASA Administrator Bolden

Dear Administrator Bolden:

Your agency-wide message to all NASA employees on Wednesday, July 28 appeared, in part, to be a response to the first "Open Letter" sent to you on Tuesday, July 27, calling for you to remove your Deputy, Lori Garver.

Rather than "celebrating your first anniversary at NASA with Lori", you should be moving swiftly to replace her with someone who can help you implement the plan Congress is in the process of providing you.

Yes, the NASA family, Government and Contractor alike, have achieved many successes this past year, but this is in spite of Ms. Garver, not because of her. The NASA family is hurting because of the ill-conceived plan developed by Ms. Garver, Jim Kohlenberger of OSTP, Paul Shawcross of OMB, and Beth Robinson, NASA's CFO. Congress knows it, you know it, and it's time to act.

To simply restate the main message of the first "Open Letter" to you, it's time to reset relations with Congress and the best way to do this is a clean sweep of Ms. Garver and company and replace them with competent managers who will not embarrass you, the President, or Congress.

Sincerely,

Concerned for NASA

cc:
Congressional Space Leadership
President Obama
All NASA Center Directors
OMB Director
OSTP Director
 
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Yuri_Armstrong

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Re: Second Open Letter to NASA Administrator Bolden

Can I ask what Garver did wrong?
 
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sftommy

Guest
Re: Second Open Letter to NASA Administrator Bolden

Bolden doesn't read these kind of letters...
probably never even sees them

Nor would he, or any Government Administrator of his caliber, act upon rash personality assessments from a disenchanted blogger.

"Concerned_About_NASA" is pushing one the Congressional agendas and has found his windmill to charge at.
Similar self delusion of importance and impact as Don Quixote.
 
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