Word: probe
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...White House, anxious to head off an outside investigation like the 9/11 commission, is adding staff for its own internal probe, led by Homeland Security Adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, and plans to issue a "Lessons Learned" report in coming months. Democrats could get handed more than the whitewash many are expecting. According to Administration officials, the White House plans to use the investigation to win support for changes in government architecture that might otherwise be resisted by Congress or federal employees unions. "We view this as an opportunity to make real improvements," says a senior Administration official. A huge target...
...tell the celebrations apart at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (J.P.L.) in Pasadena, Calif. They back-slapped and high-fived when the Pathfinder lander bounced down on Mars in 1997 and when the Spirit and Opportunity rovers followed in 2004. They cheered when the Cassini probe went into orbit around Saturn last summer and when the Huygens lander reached the surface of the planet's moon Titan months later. If it's possible to grow tired of popping corks and raising glasses, the J.P.L. engineers may be getting close...
...course, just passing on rules is not all there is to keeping things running. You have to enforce them too. Space deadlines are uncompromising things: miss a launch window when you're trying to send a probe to Mars, and you will have to wait two years until the planets line up properly again. The danger is that this kind of pressure can cloud the judgment of even the best project managers, leading them to rush as time grows short. For that reason, before a single bit of metal is cut on any spacecraft, J.P.L. bosses draw up what they...
...Democrats, who have demanded an independent probe along the lines of the 9/11 Commission and have rejected the principle of an internal inquiry into Katrina failures, went even further: "There is a huge conflict of interest here," said Rebecca Kirszner, communications director for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. "As the President's homeland security adviser, Townsend certainly was part of the Administration's response to Katrina...
Richard D. Klausner told the Washington Post last week that the move is unrelated to the ongoing probe, which is examining whether Klausner was improperly involved in the decision-making process that eventually awarded the $40 million grant to Harvard researchers—during part of which he was a candidate for the position of University president...