Press Briefing by White House Press Secretary Tony Snow 20 October 2006: NASA Excerpt

1:08 P.M. EDT

[Excerpt]

Q Tony, can you say a few words about the new Bush space policy that was released, strangely enough, on a Friday afternoon before Columbus Day, on the website of the Office of Science and Technology —

MR. SNOW: You mean the strategy that, strangely enough, was announced in July?

Q No, it was put on the website on the weekend of Columbus Day.

MR. SNOW: Okay. What do you wish to know? Not that I’m very good at it.

Q It’s about a 16-page document and NASA is mentioned in one sentence, and the gist of it is, we’re going to protect our space assets, which seems to be self-evident. Why was it necessary to issue such a statement? Is there a shift now in terms of how we use space more towards security military —

MR. SNOW: No, and I would — honestly — the answer is, no, but I’d refer questions to NASA, where you’re going to get people who know a lot more about this than I do.

Q Can you tell me who had an input in the policy? How did that —

MR. SNOW: I have no idea. I’ll try to find out for you.