WORLD NEWS TONIGHT SATURDAY - ABC February 15, 2003
NASA And US Military Clash Over Columbia Investigation; Military Does Not Want To Give Out Classified Information
TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) Searchers, for the first time, are looking west of Texas for space shuttle debris. And tonight, there is a fight brewing between investigators and the military over top-secret and potentially crucial information about Columbia's final minutes. ABC's Jeffrey Kofman has our story from Houston.
JEFFREY KOFMAN, ABC NEWS
(Voice Over) Today, teams searched these mountains in New Mexico, looking for any piece that may have come off Columbia before it broke up over Texas. So far, none of the debris being gathered at the Kennedy Space Center has been found west of Texas.
ADMIRAL HAROLD GEHMAN, COLUMBIA ACCIDENT INVESTIGATION BOARD
The layout, the pieces are beginning to get put in place.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Voice Over) But ABC News has learned what could be critical information about the shuttle as it approached the California coast is still not in the hands of investigators. Sources inside the investigation say it comes from top secret military surveillance systems.
JOHN PIKE, ABC NEWS CONSULTANT
The Air Force and the intelligence community have several types of satellites, orbiting the earth, that are designed to pick up heat given off by missiles being launched. Some of them can also detect very hot objects reentering the earth's atmosphere. And that might provide some clue as to the reentry of Columbia.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Voice Over) Clues that could come from this classified observatory in Maui. And this defense satellite system, code-named Cobra Brass.
MAJOR GENERAL MICHAEL KOSTELNIK, NASA ASSOCIATE DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR
Certainly, if there is imagery of the vehicle in this early time period, when it's out over the water, this would be very interesting to us and, perhaps, very helpful.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Voice Over) One problem, the military doesn't even admit some of these systems exist.
JOHN PIKE
The big challenge that the intelligence community has is that by giving out information on what they knew about Columbia, that would also give out information on the capabilities of their radars. And adversaries like North Korea might be able to make use of that information.
JEFFREY KOFMAN
(Off Camera) ABC News has learned that for the past two days, the Columbia Accident Board and the Department of Defense have been arguing over access to the classified material. Both sides are under intense pressure to get investigators the information they need to help determine the cause of the disaster, without compromising national security. Jeffrey Kofman, ABC News, Houston.
TERRY MORAN
(Off Camera) Old Man Winter is back. Residents from Virginia to Massachusetts are bracing for a possible blizzard this holiday weekend. The storm has already dumped more than nine inches of snow in Iowa and Nebraska. And on Monday, the storm is expected to move up the Eastern seaboard, through Boston.
TERRY MORAN (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) And still ahead, staying solvent, while staying safe. The dilemma facing one big city.
graphics: ABC World News Tonight Saturday
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