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• Space

NASA chief is credited with reviving Cold War agency

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BRETT DAVIS NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

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WASHINGTON

By Thanksgiving, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin will break what astronauts might call a long-duration record: He'll become the longest continually serving NASA head in the agency's history, surpassing the record set by Apollo-era leader James Webb.

He hasn't spent the time just standing around watching shuttle launches. Goldin has, by all accounts, taken a moribund Cold War agency that was waiting around for the next Apollo program and turned it into a leaner, sometimes meaner agency involved in a dizzying array of science and exploration programs.

``I would assume the judgment of history would be that he's been the best administrator that NASA's ever had,'' said John Pike, space policy analyst for the Federation of American Scientists.

``NASA was basically a creation of the Cold War, and he has successfully redefined the agency now that the Cold War is over, period.''

Goldin's own assessment of his main accomplishment is, ``I helped the NASA employees dream. I freed them up from the shackles of the bureaucracy and helped them dream again.''

Since Goldin assumed leadership on April 1, 1992, NASA repaired the Hubble space telescope, which began delivering amazing new views of the universe. Working with its former Cold War rival, Russia, NASA finally put part of the long-planned, long-delayed International Space Station in orbit. It landed a spacecraft on Mars and deployed a toaster-sized rover while the world watched via the Internet.

These feats were not accomplished with Apollo-sized budgets, and easing the shackles of bureaucracy also meant easing the shackles of employment for many agency workers.

On Goldin's watch, NASA trimmed tens of billions of dollars from its long-range spending plans, axed or revamped many of its major programs and showed around 7,000 workers the door. Those actions left a bad taste in a lot of people's mouths.

``There were a lot of sacred cows that needed to be gotten rid of, and Mr. Goldin did that,'' said Keith Cowing, a former NASA employee who now runs NASA Watch, a World Wide Web site that tracks the agency.

``He did that by going out into the stockyard and getting rid of the cows with a machine gun. He saw the problem, he took care of it, and he went overboard.''

John Logsdon, the director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said Goldin will likely have a bigger impact than either Webb or James Fletcher, NASA's third long-serving administrator.

``I think there are many people in the organization now that will grudgingly admit Goldin has been good for NASA,'' Logsdon said.

Even Cowing, whose Web site sometimes posts pictures of Goldin electronically altered to resemble a ``Star Trek'' villain called the Borg, said he admires some of Goldin's work.

In his more visionary moments, Goldin ``clicks with what it's about to be a species about to jump off this planet and explore the universe,'' Cowing said.

The New York City-born Goldin started his career as an engineer at NASA's Lewis Research Center (now renamed for astronaut John Glenn) in 1962, working on propulsion systems for going to Mars or other planets.

Five years later, he moved to TRW Space & Technology Group in Redondo Beach, Calif., and spent the next 25 years there working on both NASA programs and secret military spacecraft.

When President George Bush nominated him in 1992 to head NASA, few Washington politicos knew who he was.

``I came out of the black (budget) world,'' Goldin said during an interview in his office in NASA's headquarters building, referring to the secret military projects. ``I never dealt with the public like I did (at NASA). Whenever I had meetings, it was in private rooms in special buildings.''

Given a blunt mandate to cut the budget and give the agency a better sense of direction, he created NASA's buzz phrase, smaller-faster-cheaper, to describe the kind of spacecraft he wanted.

Goldin instituted a hiring freeze. He cut budgets. He obliterated layers of NASA bureaucracy and transferred the management of programs like the space station to the NASA field centers, which fought over them.

``Pain is all over the place,'' he told Congress in 1993.

``In terms of his relations with the people who came to work every day, it was the management theories of Attila the Hun,'' Pike said. ``He clearly terrorized the staff.''

Goldin agreed that he could have handled things better.

``My problem is I didn't understand the culture. I didn't have a lot of time. I mean, I went through the confirmation process in like about 10 days. There really wasn't time for me to prepare.

``But I wish I did. I wish I had more time. If I had more time, I would have been more sensitive to the issues that concern NASA employees. And although I didn't intend to create some of the stress that I did, it was through my ignorance that I created some anxiety and stress for the employees.''

Goldin is expected to stay on board throughout the Clinton administration, and the Federation of American Scientists' Pike said it's not even clear he would have to leave after the next election.

He is close to Gore, so if Gore wins he could possibly stay. He was appointed by the elder George Bush, so if the junior Bush wins, it's also possible he could stay.

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© 1999 PioneerPlanet / St. Paul (Minnesota) Pioneer Press - All Rights Reserved