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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (5934)	2/2/2003 1:12:31 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Nasa chiefs 'repeatedly ignored' safety warnings "White House officials rejected Nelson's plea for a moratorium." Peter Beaumont Sunday February 2, 2003 The Observer Fears of a catastrophic shuttle accident were raised last summer with the White House by a former Nasa engineer who pleaded for a presidential order to halt all further shuttle flights until safety issues had been addressed. In a letter to the White House, Don Nelson, who served with Nasa for 36 years until he retired in 1999, wrote to President George W. Bush warning that his 'intervention' was necessary to 'prevent another catastrophic space shuttle accident'. During his last 11 years at Nasa, Nelson served as a mission operations evaluator for proposed advanced space transportation projects. He was on the initial design team for the space shuttle. He participated in every shuttle upgrade until his retirement. Listing a series of mishaps with shuttle missions since 1999, Nelson warned in his letter that Nasa management and the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel have failed to respond to the growing warning signs of another shuttle accident. Since 1999 the vehicle had experienced a number of potentially disastrous problems: · 1999 - Columbia's launch was delayed by a hydrogen leak and Discovery was grounded with damaged wiring, contaminated engine and dented fuel line; · January 2000 - Endeavor was delayed because of wiring and computer failures; · August 2000 - inspection of Columbia revealed 3,500 defects in wiring; · October 2000 - the 100th flight of the shuttle was delayed because of a misplaced safety pin and concerns with the external tank; · April 2002 - a hydrogen leak forced the cancellation of the Atlantis flight; · July 2002 - the inspector general reported that the shuttle safety programme was not properly managed; · August 2002 - the shuttle launch system was grounded after fuel line cracks were discovered. White House officials rejected Nelson's plea for a moratorium. He tried to talk again to Nasa's administration about his worries in October but was again rebuffed. Yesterday Nelson told The Observer that he feared the Columbia disaster was the culmination of 'disastrous mismanagement' by Nasa's most senior officials and would inevitably lead to the moratorium he was calling for. 'I became concerned about safety issues in Nasa after Challenger. I think what happened is that very slowly over the years Nasa's culture of safety became eroded. 'But when I tried to raise my concerns with Nasa's new administrator, I received two reprimands for not going through the proper channels, which discouraged other people from coming forward with their concerns. When it came to an argument between a middle-ranking engineer and the astronauts and administration, guess who won. 'One of my biggest complaints has been that we should have been looking for ways to develop crew escape modules, which Nasa has constantly rejected.' His claims emerged against a background of growing concern over the management of safety issues by Nasa. They followed similar warnings last April by the former chairman of the Aerospace Safety Advisory panel, Richard Bloomberg, who said: 'In all of the years of my involvement, I have never been as concerned for space shuttle safety as now.' Bloomberg blamed the deferral or elimination of planned safety upgrades, a diminished workforce as a result of hiring freezes, and an ageing infrastructure for the advisory panel's findings. His warning echoed earlier concern about key shuttle safety issues. In September 2001 at a Senate hearing into shuttle safety, senators and independent experts warned that budget and management problems were putting astronauts lives at risk. At the centre of concern were claims that a budget overspend of almost $5 billion (£3bn) had led to a culture in Nasa whereby senior managers treated shuttle safety upgrades as optional. Among those who spoke out were Democratic Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, who warned: 'I fear that if we don't provide the space shuttle programme with the resources it needs for safety upgrades, our country is going to pay a price we can't bear. 'We're starving Nasa's shuttle budget and thus greatly increasing the chance of a catastrophic loss.' Although Nasa officials said that improvements were being made they admitted that more needed to be done. A year earlier, a General Accounting Office report had warned that the loss of experienced engineers and technicians in the space shuttle programme was threatening the safety of future missions just as Nasa was preparing to increase its annual number of launches to build the International Space Station. The GAO cited internal Nasa documents showing 'workforce reductions are jeopardising Nasa's ability to safely support the shuttle's planned flight rate'. Space agency officials discovered in late 1999 that many employees didn't have the necessary skills to properly manage avionics, mechanical engineering and computer systems, according to the GAO report. The GAO assembled a composite portrait of the shuttle programme's workforce that showed twice as many workers over 60 years of age than under 30. It assessed that the number of workers then nearing retirement could jeopardise the programme's ability to transfer leadership roles to the next generation to support the higher flight rate necessary to build the space station. observer.co.uk

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (5934)	2/4/2003 1:45:39 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Nasa memo warned of damage to shuttle David Teather in New York Tuesday February 4, 2003 The Guardian guardian.co.uk Nasa officials were warned of a large gash on the heat protection tiles on the Columbia in an internal memo two days before the space shuttle broke apart in the skies above Texas. The memo, which emerged yesterday, raised troubling questions about whether anything could have been done to prevent the disaster that claimed the lives of all seven astronauts on board on Saturday morning. The warning, first reported on the US news network MSNBC, was from a Nasa engineer who said there was a 76 x 19cm (30 x 7.5in) area of damaged or missing tiles on the left wing. At least one tile was totally gone, the memo said. Video footage appeared to show a substantial dent in the wing. A key focus of investigations is a piece of insulation foam that tore off a large external engine and collided with the left wing 80 seconds after launch and may have exposed the metal skin beneath the tiles. The craft is covered with thousands of tiles to resist the searing heat of re-entry. Shortly before the shuttle broke up, Nasa computers had recorded a 15.5C (60F) spike in temperature on the left-hand side of the craft and reported a drag on the wing, indicating a damaged or missing tile. At a briefing in Washington, Nasa's deputy administrator, General Michael Kostelnik, said the space agency would re-examine the memo. But he reiterated comments that Nasa has made since the disaster three days ago that "the best and the brightest" in mission control in Houston, Texas, had studied the incident during launch and decided it had not presented any danger to the shuttle. The internal memo, pointing to the gash, said it presented "no burn through and no safety of flight issues". Gen Kostelnik said: "This is not a new phenomenon. We have seen this happen before and in no other case has there been a major safety issue." Nasa is still looking at other possible avenues, including problems with the structure of the craft or navigation controls, but has conceded that early evidence pointed to a "thermal" problem as the Columbia faced temperatures of 1,650C (3,000F). Bill Readdy, an associate administrator, said: "Everyone has leaped to the conclusion that was the cause. I'm not ready to say that." But he added: "That is certainly the leading candidate right now." Nasa maintains that little could have been done to repair the tiles even if they had been felt to be a potential hazard. A space walk to examine the area underneath the wing could have caused further damage, the agency said. The search for clues will include a further 32 seconds of data from the moments before the Columbia disintegrated. The data came in a flawed signal but engineers are attempting to interrogate it to get a better idea of what happened. The head of Nasa, Sean O'Keafe, briefed President George Bush on developments in the investigation. Yesterday there was continued criticism of cuts to Nasa's budgets that some former astronauts have claimed may have put missions in jeopardy.

To: Patricia Trinchero who wrote (5934)	2/6/2003 12:13:35 AM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Bush-Linked Company Handled Security for the WTC, Dulles and United " Marvin P. Bush, the president's youngest brother, was a director at Stratesec from 1993 to fiscal year 2000. But the White House has not publicly disclosed Bush connections in any of its responses to 9/11, nor has it mentioned that another Bush-linked business had done security work for the facilities attacked. by Margie Burns Published on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 by the Prince George's Journal (Maryland) George W. Bush's brother was on the board of directors of a company providing electronic security for the World Trade Center, Dulles International Airport and United Airlines, according to public records. The company was backed by an investment firm, the Kuwait-American Corp., also linked for years to the Bush family. The security company, formerly named Securacom and now named Stratesec, is in Sterling, Va.. Its CEO, Barry McDaniel, said the company had a ``completion contract" to handle some of the security at the World Trade Center ``up to the day the buildings fell down." It also had a three-year contract to maintain electronic security systems at Dulles Airport, according to a Dulles contracting official. Securacom/Stratesec also handled some security for United Airlines in the 1990s, according to McDaniel, but it had been completed before his arriving on the board in 1998. McDaniel confirmed that the company has security contracts with the Department of Defense, including the U.S. Army, but did not detail the nature of the work, citing security concerns. It has an ongoing line with the General Services Administration - meaning that its bids for contracts are noncompetitive - and also did security work for the Los Alamos laboratory before 1998. Marvin P. Bush, the president's youngest brother, was a director at Stratesec from 1993 to fiscal year 2000. But the White House has not publicly disclosed Bush connections in any of its responses to 9/11, nor has it mentioned that another Bush-linked business had done security work for the facilities attacked. Marvin Bush joined Securacom when it was capitalized by the Kuwait-American Corporation, a private investment firm in D.C. that was the security company's major investor, sometimes holding a controlling interest. Marvin Bush has not responded to telephone calls and e-mails for comment. KuwAm has been linked to the Bush family financially since the Gulf War. One of its principals and a member of the Kuwaiti royal family, Mishal Yousef Saud al Sabah, served on the board of Stratesec. The managing director at KuwAm, Wirt D. Walker III, was also a principal at Stratesec, and Walker, Marvin Bush and al Sabah are listed in SEC filings as significant shareholders in both companies during that period. Marvin Bush's last year on the board at Stratesec coincided with his first year on the board of HCC Insurance, formerly Houston Casualty Co., one of the insurance carriers for the WTC. He left the HCC board in November 2002. But none of these connections has been looked at during the extensive investigations since 9/11. McDaniel says principals and other personnel at Stratesec have not been questioned or debriefed by the FBI or other investigators. Walker declined to answer the same question regarding KuwAm, referring to the public record. Walker is also chairman and CEO of Aviation General, a Tulsa, Okla.-based aviation company with two subsidiaries. SEC filings also show al Sabah as a principal and shareholder in Aviation General, which was recently delisted by the Nasdaq. Stratesec was delisted by the American Stock Exchange in October 2002. The suite in which Marvin Bush was annually re-elected, according to public records, is located in the Watergate in space leased to the Saudi government. The company now holds shareholder meetings in space leased by the Kuwaiti government there. The White House has not responded to various requests for comment. Speaking of the Watergate, Riggs National Bank, where Saudi Princess Al-Faisal had her ``Saudi money trail" bank account, has as one of its executives Jonathan Bush, an uncle of the president. The public has not learned whether Riggs - which services 95 percent of Washington's foreign embassies - will be turning over records relating to Saudi finance. Meanwhile, Bush has nominated William H. Donaldson to head the Securities and Exchange Commission. Donaldson, a longtime Bush family friend, was a Yale classmate of Jonathan Bush. On the very day of the tragic space shuttle crash, the government appointed an independent investigative panel, and rightly so. Why didn't it do the same on Sept. 12, 2001? Margie Burns, a teacher and writer, lives in Cheverly, Maryland. commondreams.org