WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leaders of the Senate Commerce, Science,
and Transportation Committee, Chairman John D. (Jay) Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and
Ranking Member Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), today called for the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Inspector General to
launch an investigation into the sudden removal of the Constellation program
manager.
The full text of the May 27 letter to NASA Inspector General
Paul Martin from Senators Hutchison and Rockefeller is below.
The Honorable Paul K. Martin
Inspector General
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Office of Inspector General
300 E Street, SW
Washington, DC 20546
Dear Inspector General Martin:
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
announced yesterday the removal and reassignment of Jeff Hanley, the Program
Manager of NASA’s Constellation Program for the past five years. We are
writing to request that you conduct an investigation into the circumstances of
Mr. Hanley’s reassignment, and whether his removal as program manager was
related to Mr. Hanley’s well-publicized efforts to preserve the Constellation
Program, consistent with Congressional enactments, notwithstanding the
President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 Budget request calling for elimination of the
program. Further, we ask that you examine whether this or other recent
actions by NASA were intended or could reasonably have been expected to
foreclose the ability of Congress to consider meaningful alternatives to the
Administration’s FY 2011 Budget plan for NASA.
According to recent media reports, Mr. Hanley has supported
continued testing of the Ares I rocket and other parts of the Constellation
Program that are currently required by Congress. Reports show that, until
very recently, Mr. Hanley’s superiors at NASA were supportive of his actions
regarding the Constellation Program. As recently as May 16, 2010, Associate
Administrator Douglas Cooke denied any conflict between Mr. Hanley and NASA
leadership, and stressed the consistency between Mr. Hanley’s actions and the
requirements of the law.[1]
Yet, on May 26, 2010, just five days after an internal NASA email
purportedly directed Mr. Hanley to de-prioritize spending on items used
exclusively for the program of record,[2] NASA announced that
Mr. Hanley had been removed from his role as Constellation’s Program Manager
and reassigned to be the Johnson Space Center Associate Director for Strategic
Capabilities. Administrator Bolden, in commenting on Mr. Hanley’s
reassignment, said that Mr. Hanley “lost his job because he was ‘conflicted’
and had become a lightning rod for controversy.” [3]
Administrator Bolden is also quoted as saying: “When you find that you
are as attached to a program as Jeff is [to Constellation], then you become the
focus of attention and not the program.”[4]
We find this explanation even more troubling given
Administrator Bolden’s April 28, 2010, statements, in an address to employees
at the Johnson Space Center, that attempts by NASA employees “to go to members
of Congress, the media, and the American public with contradictory information
about the road ahead and the need to move on beyond the Constellation Program
is not helpful.”[5]
We understand the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is
already examining whether NASA’s actions vis-à-vis its contractors have
violated the provision in Public Law 111-117 prohibiting “the termination or
elimination of any program, project or activity of the architecture for the
Constellation program” without prior Congressional approval. Accordingly,
we anticipate that you may choose to coordinate any investigation regarding
Constellation contractors with GAO. Nevertheless, given NASA’s recent
actions involving agency employees, we believe your office is the most
appropriate one to investigate any potential misconduct.
As an initial step, we ask that you direct (through the NASA
General Counsel’s Office as needed) the relevant offices within NASA to
preserve relevant documents. We also ask that, at your earliest
convenience, you schedule a meeting with Committee staff to discuss the scope
of your review and to obtain additional materials that have been shared with
the Committee. Please contact John Williams (202-224-XXXX) or Nick Rossi
(202-224-XXXX) on our Committee staff to coordinate this meeting.
Sincerely,
Jay
Rockefeller
Kay Bailey Hutchison
[1] See Kenneth Chang, “Busy Schedule
for Rocket Obama Wants Scrapped,” New York Times, May 16, 2010,
available at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/science/space/17rocket.html.
[2] We have not yet authenticated
this email, a copy of which will be provided to you separately.
[3]
See Mark K. Matthews and Robert Block, “NASA sacks chief of Constellation
rocket program; ousting triggers protests,” Orlando Sentinel, May 26,
2010, available at:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-constellation-chief-sacked-20100526,0,7773602.story.
[4]
Id.
[5]
See Administrator Charles Bolden, “NASA All-Hands Address”, available at:
http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpp/news/national/100428-houston-layoffs-not-in-nasa-plan.