Status Report

Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting 21 August 2000

By SpaceRef Editor
August 21, 2000
Filed under

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on August 21, 2000. Mr. Goldin did not attend
the meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for
easy identification.

1. AA Reports

F/Peterson: Ms. Peterson reported that KSC was selected to receive an
Honorable Mention Award from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for
their Director’s PILLAR Award. OPM recognized KSC for their design and
implementation of the Goal Performance Evaluation System (GPES), which is
an automated system that links Agency and Center strategic goals to
individuals’ performance. The PILLAR Award was established this year by
OPM to acknowledge exemplary employee performance management practices.
(PILLAR stands for “Performance, Incentives, and Leadership Linked to
Achieve Results.) The award will be presented next week.

S/Dr. Withbroe: Dr. Withbroe reported that the Mars Global Surveyor
Project received the Aviation Week 1999 Aerospace Laurels Award for
outstanding achievement in space.

P/Cleggett: Ms. Cleggett reported on the following items: 1) Today,
there will be a press release on news about the Arctic-ice thinning, as
well as live shots out of JPL tomorrow. 2) Also, “urban heat islands”
(cities creating their own weather systems) got news over the weekend.

L/Kerwin: Ms. Kerwin reported that Congressman Walsh, along with five
congressional members, will be visiting Paris, France; and Moscow and St.
Petersburg, Russia.

K/Thomas: Mr. Thomas reported that NASA held its 5th Annual
Mentor-Protege Conference, 9th Annual NASA/New England Technology and
Business Conference from August 15-17, 2000, in Providence, Rhode Island.
A special feature was NASA adding a 3rd day– NASA ISO 9000 Small
Business Conference. Over 300 participants were in attendance. Mr.
Thomas delivered the keynote address during the Technology and Business
Conference and received a plaque on behalf of the State of Rhode Island
from a State Legislator in attendance. He thanked the Center Directors
for supporting this Agencywide effort by sending their Small Business
Specialist and Small Business Technical Advisors. The reaction from
participants touted the three-day conferences as the best of federal
agencies.

J/Sutton: Mr. Sutton reported that we notified NASA aircraft flight
operations offices last Friday, and over the weekend, of informal
requests from the Department of Agriculture and Department of Interior
for support of other agencies’ aircraft in fighting the fires out West.
They are looking for support of aircraft capable of carrying passengers
or providing thermal imaging. We were told that the Secretary of the
Interior may be declaring or requesting a Presidential declaration or
state of emergency in fighting these fires. We have not received any
formal requests for support, but wanted to alert Center Directors to the
possibility of such formal requests.

Y/Cleave: Dr. Cleave reported that the EO-1 spacecraft is being shipped
to the Vehicle Assembly Building, with a proposed launch readiness date
of November 16, 2000.

AO/Holcomb: Mr. Holcomb reported that last week, NASA prepared the first
report to Congressman Horn on our Information Technology (IT) Security
posture. We appreciate the support of all the NASA Centers and the
Inspector General’s Office for providing inputs to this response. The
Federal Chief Information Officers Council will work with the Horn
Committee to improve the reporting process and establish standards for
reporting. Congressman Horn has scheduled an announcement for September
6, 2000, to release the results of the initial response. Most likely, in
an IT Security “Report Card” for Federal agencies.

AE/Keegan: Mr. Keegan thanked the Associate Administrators and Center
Directors for their participation in the VITS on Friday, August 18 to
discuss the NASA Integrated Action Team (NIAT) activity: He noted that
there was good discussion, good input, and we will utilize the results of
this discussion as we move to draft the full report by August 31 with
narrative to set context for actions.

C/Gibson: Ms. Gibson reported that NASA HQ is in the first week of a
pilot computer-training program. It allows all employees to sign up for
1-on-1 instruction on any commonly used HQ software of their choice. In
sessions lasting for up to 1 hour, the training will be conducted at the
employee’s desk-side and tailored to the individual. She encouraged
everyone to take advantage of this new customer-friendly service. The
pilot will be conducted until September 29, 2000, and may be instituted
as an ongoing training opportunity depending on the level of interest.

2. Center Reports

JSC/Abbey: Mr. Abbey reported on the following items: 1) In
preparation for the next launch, the STS-106 Countdown Demonstration Test
(CDDT) went fine. 2) JSC is monitoring weather in the Atlantic that may
affect the STS-106 launch that is planned for September 8. 3) There will
be a memorial service at JSC on August 28 for Dr. Robert Gilruth (Dr.
Gilruth was one of the pioneers of human space flight, and the first
Director of JSC (formerly called the Manned Spacecraft Center)).

KSC/Bridges: Mr. Bridges reported that we are watching the progress of
Hurricane Debby. We will be prepared this week to respond to a program
decision for rollback of Atlantis from the launch pad. There is a
possibility of 40-knot winds in the KSC area as early as Friday.

SSC/Estess: Mr. Estess reported on the following items: 1) Last week,
SSC completed the fifth test of the TRW pintle engine. 2) SSC will
celebrate Women’s Equality Day tomorrow. The guest speaker will be
Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck.

NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO VANESSA COATES @ (202) 358-0906.

Distribution


Officials-in-Charge of NASA Headquarters Offices:
AA/Mr. Heffernan
AI/Dr. Mulville
AB/Ms. Tagg
AC/Gen. Armstrong
AE/Mr. Keegan
AJ/Mr. Tam
AM/Dr. Nicogossian
AS/Dr. Olsen
B/Mr. Holz
C/Mr. Christensen
E/Mr. Reese
F/Ms. Novak
G/Mr. Frankle
H/Mr. Luedtke
I/Mr. Schumacher
J/Mr. Sutton
K/Mr. Thomas
L/Mr. Heffernan
M/Mr. Rothenberg
P/Ms. Wilhide
Q/Mr. Gregory
R/Mr. Venneri
S/Dr. Weiler
U/Dr. Olsen (Acting)
W/Ms. Gross
Y/Dr. Asrar
Z/Ms. Garver
Directors, NASA Centers:
ARC/Dr. McDonald
DFRC/Mr. Petersen
GRC/Mr. Campbell
GSFC/Mr. Diaz
JSC/Mr. Abbey
KSC/Mr. Bridges
LaRC/Dr. Creedon
MSFC/Mr. Stephenson
SSC/Mr. Estess
Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory:
Dr. Stone
cc:
A/Ms. Stewart
AB/Ms. Saldana
AC/Ms. Landrus
AE/Ms. Moore
AI/Ms. Shaeffer
AI/Ms. Blinebury
AI/Ms. Soper
AJ/Ms. Bloxon
AO/Ms. Wissinger
AS/Ms. Simms
CIC/Ms. Grimes
CIC/Ms. Hoover
CIC/Ms. Coates
CIC/Ms. Fenner
CIC/Ms. Maynor
CIC/Ms. Doyle

SpaceRef staff editor.