spacetoday.net: Senate report claims major mismanagement at NASA

Posted: Thu, Jun 7, 2001, 5:32 PM ET (2132 GMT)
NASA

A report released Tuesday by a Senate committee listed NASA among the top ten agencies and programs with the worst mismanagement problems. The report, by the Senate's Government Affairs Committee, said that NASA's problems managing larger projects had led to billions of dollars of waste. The report cited a number of examples, including ongoing delays with the International Space Station, the loss of the Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander spacecraft, and the cancellation of the X-33 program. The report, prepared for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), made no recommendations for improvements, leaving that task to the OMB and Bush Administration. The report was released on the last day that Republican senator Fred Thompson chaired the committee; he lost his committee chairmanship on Wednesday when Democrats assumed control of the Senate following the decision of Vermont senator James Jeffords to leave the Republican party.