[extropy-chat] Bush's Schedule for NASA

[Harvey Newstrom]

Mike Lorrey wrote,
> Depends on what the purpose of NASAs actions are (I'd love to 
> see some documentation of this, Harvey, because otherwise you 
> are sounding rather paranoid here).

The two things are not mutually exclusive!  :-)

The CNN story that got my attention was at
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/01/18/northwest.privacy.ap/index.html>.

Some specific quotes:

"the NASA program to help the government's search for technology to improve
aviation security."

"NASA said it used the information to investigate whether 'data mining' of
the records could improve assessments of threats posed by passengers,
according to the agency's written responses to questions."

Northwest airlines said "We were providing data to a government agency to
conduct scientific research related to aviation security."

JetBlue turned over records to a "secret security project conducted by the
Defense Department"

The article later refers to "NASA's secret security project".

> WHY would NASA be involved in aerospace national security?

The entire homeland defense department was a way for Bush to cancel programs
he didn't like and fund programs he did like, without involving congress.
It was an executive decision.  I think they just co-opted NASA's budget to
fund more homeland defense stuff.

A quick search on "NASA and Homeland Defense" shows that this is not a new
idea.  One site,
<http://www1.msfc.nasa.gov/NEWSROOM/NSSTC/news/releases/2003/N03-003.html>
shows that "earth defense" from asteroids has been merged with "homeland
defense".  Dr. Jonathan W. Campbell was appointed last June to manage
"several Earth-defense and homeland defense research projects...."

-- 
Harvey Newstrom, CISSP, CISA, CISM, IAM, IBMCP, GSEC
Certified IS Security Pro, Certified IS Auditor, Certified InfoSec Manager,
NSA Certified Assessor, IBM Certified Consultant, SANS Certified GIAC
<HarveyNewstrom.com> <Newstaff.com>