AIP FYI #141: O’Keefe Nominated to be New NASA Administrator

“All of the building blocks for a comprehensive and aggressive
strategy of reform for NASA are now being placed. If we build
this foundation correctly, and I will do everything I can to make
sure we do, there should be a significant reduction in the amount
of resources needed to carry out what is currently on NASA’s
plate.” – NASA Administrator nominee Sean O’Keefe, November 7,
2001

At a time when continued cost overruns are threatening the
scientific capability of the International Space Station,
President Bush has nominated a budget and management expert to
take over the reins at NASA. To replace Dan Goldin, whose
resignation as administrator of the space agency was effective
last week, Bush on November 14 nominated Sean O’Keefe, a former
Secretary of the Navy, professor of business administration, and
congressional staffer.

O’Keefe is currently Deputy Director of the Office of Management
and Budget, and has been intimately involved in helping NASA and
the White House address the space station’s cost troubles. He
was influential in the Administration’s proposal earlier this
year to halt or delay work on space station enhancements that
would allow more crew and greater research capacity, and to
instead focus available funding on finishing the “core complete”
station configuration. He recently testified that the core
configuration would be one acceptable end state for the space
station program (see FYI #136). Bush’s choice of O’Keefe to head
NASA instead of a scientist or engineer suggests that the White
House wants to focus on improved management and tighter cost
control at the agency.

O’Keefe’s confirmation by the Senate is not expected to be
controversial, although no confirmation hearing has yet been
scheduled. If confirmed, he will bring to NASA a close
relationship with Vice President Dick Cheney and the Defense
Department, and a first-hand knowledge of how Congress operates.
O’Keefe, who has a Master’s Degree in Public Administration, was
Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy at Syracuse
University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs
before coming to OMB. Prior to that, O’Keefe served under then-
Secretary of Defense Cheney in the first Bush Administration as
comptroller and CFO of the Defense Department and, from 1992-
1993, as Secretary of the Navy. In 1993, President Bush and
Secretary Cheney presented him with the Distinguished Public
Service Award. Before his service in the first Bush
Administration, O’Keefe spent eight years as a staffer for the
Senate Appropriations Committee, and was staff director for the
Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.

At a November 7 House Science Committee hearing, O’Keefe made
clear the importance he placed on getting space station costs
under control. While praising the technical accomplishments of
the program so far, he declared, “technical excellence at any
cost is not an acceptable approach.” O’Keefe acknowledged that
the station’s “primary objective” is to “accomplish R&D that can
only be obtained by this unique facility.” He insisted, however,
that “while it may not be optimum,” the core configuration would
still be a worthwhile accomplishment and should be able to
produce good science. “I don’t think it’s not worth the money,”
he said. “I think we have to make sure what we get from the
program is as good as we can get for the money we spend.” He
commented that he had talked with OSTP director Jack Marburger,
and that OMB and OSTP “will be working closely with NASA and the
research community” to set science priorities for the station.
He stated that NASA must establish cost and management
credibility for the program before the Administration would
consider making available any additional resources for enhanced
capability. “When and if the time comes to reassess resource
needs for the program,” he added, “any increases to fund an
expanded end-state…must be prioritized against other research
activities of the agency and the nation.” In his testimony,
O’Keefe presented a chart comparing Human Space Flight to NSF
research activities, NASA’s Earth and Space Science, DOD basic
and applied research, DOE science, and the National Cancer
Institute, and pointed out that “the annual Federal investment in
Human Space Flight is considerable and is significantly more than
other major Federal research investments.”

In light of the announced retirements of Goldin and NASA’s
Associate Administrator for Human Space Flight, O’Keefe also
testified that “a most important next step…is to provide new
leadership for NASA and its Human Space Flight activities. NASA
has been well-served by Dan Goldin. New leadership is now
necessary to continue moving the ball down the field with the
goal line in sight. The Administration recognizes the importance
of getting the right leaders in place as soon as possible, and I
am personally engaged in making sure that this happens.”

At the same hearing, O’Keefe gave some indications of how he views
NASA’s other activities. He declared the Administration’s
intention that the station cost growth should not “be offset by
cuts to NASA’s Space and Earth Science and Aerospace Technology
activities.” He praised the Offices of Space and Earth Science
for their management: “the Human Space Flight elements within NASA
would be well-served to learn from NASA’s Space Science and Earth
Science elements, which have made major strides in addressing
scientific priorities, managing to total cost, and appropriately
managing risks.” Discussing the future of NASA, he mentioned
shuttle privatization and the Space Launch Initiative for “a next
generation of space access capability.”

O’Keefe also indicated his support for government-wide management
reforms: “I chair the President’s Management Council, which
coordinates management reforms and issues across the government.
We are beginning to do things that move the full cost of doing
business to the agencies…. The user of the Space Station is
primarily the research community…. [A]t some point in the
future, the science enterprise that primarily uses the Space
Station should be given the full-cost management authority over
this orbiting laboratory. This way, the Station and other
research platforms can be most effectively used for successfully
addressing the high priority research objectives.”

Upon announcement of O’Keefe’s nomination, Science Committee
Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) called O’Keefe “the right man at
the right time for this job,” and outgoing administrator Goldin
praised him as “a man of intelligence, energy and deep integrity.”
The Science Committee’s Ranking Democrat, Ralph Hall (D-TX), urged
O’Keefe to remember that the space station must be “a world-class
research facility…. Anything less would compromise our space
research effort, our relationships with the international
partners, and ultimately the entire purpose and rationale of the
station program. I look forward to working with the new
Administrator to achieve these goals.”

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Audrey T. Leath

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org

(301) 209-3094

http://www.aip.org/gov

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