[FPSPACE] NASA Inspector General called to resign

[pjp]

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>From US News and World Report.

 

 

 

 

Key Democrats Demand NASA Inspector's Ouster

By Bret Schulte

Posted 4/3/07

A month after the White House surrendered sensitive information about NASA
Inspector General Robert Cobb, three key Democrats have called on Cobb to
resign.

Rep. Bart Gordon of Tennessee, chairman of the House Science Committee, was
joined by Rep. Brad Miller of North Carolina, chairman of the investigations
and oversight subcommittee, and Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who oversees
the space program in the Senate, in a letter to the president calling for
the resignation. The senior Democrats say information gleaned from the
President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency revealed a host of abuses by
Cobb, including a cozy relationship with the very NASA officials he was
charged with reviewing. Cobb is also accused of creating a hostile work
environment.

"NASA is poorly served by an inspector general who is not perceived as being
completely independent," Gordon said. "If whistleblowers and the inspector
general's own staff do not feel that they can trust him or work with him, he
cannot possibly be effective." In early March, Gordon threatened to subpoena
the information, and possibly NASA or White House officials, if the council
didn't turn over information regarding Cobb by April 2. White House
officials relented.

According to Gordon, the documents included descriptions of several
incidents in which Cobb used intimidation, profanity, and threats against
his staff. In their letter to the president, the three legislators wrote
that the effect of Cobb's behavior is that "experienced, skilled employees
appear to have become more interested in avoiding Mr. Cobb's anger than in
doing credible work." The letter also recites some of the information found
in the presidential committee's investigation, pulling back the curtain on
the White House's own investigation of the inspector general.

For example, after Cobb was allowed to respond to all allegations, "he did
not deny any of them," the letter says, "but gave excuses for each of them.
In response to the allegations of creating a hostile work environment by
using profanity, threats, and intimidation against his staff, he said he was
'passionate when people are insubordinate to my face.' "