Status Report

Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting 8 Jan 2001

By SpaceRef Editor
January 8, 2001
Filed under ,

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on January 8, 2001. Mr. Goldin did not attend
the meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.

1. AA Reports


W/Gross: Ms. Gross reported on the following: 1) On Dec. 19, 2000, Daniel
C. Patterson, Alexander Drabkin, Anthony Macaluso, and Michael Itaev were
arrested and charged with mail and wire fraud. The charges stemmed from
their alleged participation in a scheme to defraud the Stern-Leach Company,
Attleboro, Massachusetts, of $1.6 million in gold. It is alleged that in
November 2000, an individual contacted Stern-Leach and indicated that he
wished to purchase large quantities of gold for use at the Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Assembly Research Division, Pasadena, California. This
investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the Defense Criminal
Investigative Service, NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of Criminal
Investigation, and the Pasadena Police Department, Pasadena,
California. 2) On Dec. 26, Mathew S. Lawrence of Connecticut was charged
with violating Connecticut Public Act 99-160, Unauthorized Use of a
Computer, for allegedly hacking into a NASA computer and defacing a Web
page. Lawrence allegedly hacked into the Web server for the Office of
Human Resources at GSFC and defaced its Internet Web page. This resulted
in labor costs to rebuild the computer system and kept the Web server out
of service for almost a month. This investigation was conducted by Special
Agents from the NASA Office of Inspector General, Office of Criminal
Investigation, Computer Crimes Division, and detectives from the Shelton
Police Department. The prosecution will be conducted by Paul O. Gaetano,
Assistant State’s Attorney.

P/Cleggett: Ms. Cleggett reported on the following: 1) The 2001: Mars
Odyssey orbiter has arrived at KSC. Look for video of the spacecraft on
NASA television this week. 2) Briefings on STS-98 will be shown on NASA TV
on Thursday, January 11.

AS/Olsen: Dr. Olsen reported that the International Space Station (ISS)
Utilization Board will meet today.

L/Kerwin: Ms. Kerwin reported on the following: 1) Congress has begun
organizing for the 107th session. 2) The House Science Committee will be
chaired by Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY). The Judiciary Committee will be
chaired by F. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI). 3) The House Appropriations
Subcommittee on VA-HUD-Independent Agencies will continue to be chaired by
James Walsh (R-NY). 4) In the Senate, the Republican and Democratic
leadership have reached a power-sharing agreement, given the even 50-50
split in Republican/Democrat ranks. This will entail equal membership of
Republicans and Democrats on all committees, and tie votes within Committee
will be forwarded to the Senate floor rather than being killed within
Committee under previous rules. Also, until the Inauguration on January
20, the Democrats will control the Senate, given the ability of the Vice
President as President of the Senate to cast tie-breaking votes.

C/Christensen: Mr. Christensen thanked the Associate Administrators and
the Center Directors for their help with the Transition Team.

2. AI/Dr. Mulville


Dr. Mulville reported on the following: 1) Dr. Mulville reminded everyone
of Mr. Goldin’s Web cast on Thursday, January 11. 2) Next week’s Senior
Staff Telecon will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 16, due to the holiday. 3) Dr.
Mulville thanked Mr. Christensen and the support staff for overseeing the
renovation work in the Code A suite during the holidays.

3. Center Reports


ARC/McDonald: Dr. McDonald reported on the following: 1) Mr. Goldin will
be visiting the Center on January 9. 2) On Wednesday, January 10, the
Center will be hosting the High Dependability Computing Consortium’s
research program workshop which will include representatives of industry,
Government, and academia.

DFRC/Petersen: Mr. Petersen reported that the Center will be participating
in safety training this week. They will have various focus sessions.

JPL/Dumas: Mr. Dumas reported that Mr. Goldin had just arrived at the
Center to meet with the project folks.

JSC/Abbey: Mr. Abbey reported on the following: 1) The Center has
successfully completed the countdown in preparation for STS-98, and the
Flight Readiness Review is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 10. 2) On orbit,
the ISS is doing well, and the crew is in good spirits.

MSFC/Stephenson: Mr. Stephenson reported on the following: 1) MSFC had
some personnel changes last week–Carolyn Griner retired as Deputy Center
Director and was replaced by Jim Kennedy; Axel Roth was named as Associate
Director; Bill Kilpatrick replaced Jim Kennedy as Director, Engineering
Directorate; and Jan Davis assumed Axel Roth’s position as Director, Flight
Projects Directorate. 2) The Center is working the SRB wiring issue on
STS-98. 3) The STS-92 crew is at MSFC today. Thanks to JSC for adjusting
their schedule to allow them to visit the Center.

NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO JILL HOOVER AT (202) 358-0905.

SpaceRef staff editor.