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Repubs demos question panel independence { February 13 2003 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64701-2003Feb12.htmlhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64701-2003Feb12.html
Criticism of Columbia Probe Grows
Republicans Join Democrats in Questioning Panel's Independence
By Eric Pianin and Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, February 13, 2003; Page A11
Key congressional Republicans yesterday joined Democrats to question the independence of a commission investigating the space shuttle Columbia disaster, as pressure mounted to expand the panel and give it total freedom from NASA officials.
As Congress opened its own probe into Columbia's destruction with an unusual joint hearing, lawmakers said that the commission headed by retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr. must be totally insulated from possible NASA influence by changing the commission's charter and that the nine-member panel must be expanded to include several outside scientists and experts. A few also called for the appointment of a presidential commission similar to the one that investigated the space shuttle Challenger explosion in 1986.
"The words of the [commission's] charter simply do not guarantee the independence and latitude that both the [NASA] administrator and the admiral have sincerely promised," House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.) said at the hearing's outset. "The charter's words need to match everyone's intent now to avoid any problems later."
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, the lone witness at the four-hour hearing, defended the investigation but left open the possibility of adding members with more distance from the space agency and further amending the panel's charter. And by the end of the session, O'Keefe signaled that the Bush administration would give the commission carte blanche to conduct the probe as it sees fit. "We hear you and we're moving," O'Keefe told Boehlert before departing the hearing room.
The hearing, conducted by Boehlert and Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), ranged widely from the latest theories of the likely cause of the disaster to troubling questions about whether Congress and NASA were complicit in the accident because of gradual budget cuts for the shuttle program over the past decade.
Without ruling out any theory, O'Keefe said it was unlikely that the breakup of the Columbia over Texas, which took the lives of the seven crew members, was caused by a chunk of foam insulation striking the left wing 80 seconds after liftoff. He said he also doubted the disaster resulted from Columbia's age or human error, or that the accident was related to budget problems, citing NASA statistics showing that even as program spending declined, the efficiency of the shuttle operation increased and the number of problems associated with each mission decreased.
"We will find the problem that caused the loss of Columbia and its crew, we will fix it, and we will return to flight operations that are as safe as humanly possible in pursuit of knowledge," O'Keefe said.
"We have an independent accident investigation board of truly outstanding and eminently qualified individuals," he added, "and they, and they alone, will determine the cause of the accident and its remedy -- no matter where it leads."
Within days of the Feb. 1 shuttle disaster, congressional Democrats and some non-NASA scientists and experts began raising doubts about the makeup and mandate of the Gehman commission. The commission membership is dominated by Air Force and Navy officers and other government officials, with few civilians or independent scientists.
Rep. Bart Gordon (Tenn.) and 15 other Democrats on the House Science Committee wrote to President Bush on Feb. 6 urging that the board's charter be altered to broaden its membership and ensure its independence from NASA. Democrats were particularly concerned that NASA was providing the board with support personnel, that the board had only 60 days in which to complete its investigation, that its final report would be submitted to O'Keefe.
The board already has made several changes, including agreeing to employ independent laboratories and outside experts to review the major technical work. Republicans previously expressed confidence in the board's makeup and charter. But yesterday, Boehlert and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics, joined Gordon and Rep. Ralph M. Hall (Tex.), the senior Democrat on the Science Committee, in challenging the panel's independence and demanding that the commission report directly to Bush and Congress.
"It's the ambiguity in the charter," Boehlert said. "It makes it look like, if they want to do something that's not part of the policy manual of NASA, they've got to march over to NASA headquarters and get approval."
McCain agreed that there may be need for "some additions or subtractions" of commission members, but said he doubted Congress would insist on "fundamental change," such as appointment of a presidential commission.
© 2003 The Washington Post Company
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