A retired Air Force major general who has a background in strategy and policy as well as a personal relationship with President-Elect Barack Obama is emerging as a leading candidate to be nominated for the top job at NASA.Maj. Gen. Jonathan Scott Gration retired in 2006 as the Director of Strategy, Policy, and Assessments with the United States European Command. He was a top advisor with the Obama presidential campaign.
He served as a White House fellow who worked directly with former NASA Deputy Administrator Hans Mark during the early 1980s, according to sources familiar with the incoming Obama adminsitration's review of NASA.
His nomination for the NASA Administrator job could come within the next few days. Gration then would face confirmation hearings before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transporation. U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson sits on that committee and chairs its Space, Aeronautics and Related Sciences Subcommittee.
You can read Gration's official Air Force biography here: Maj. Gen. Jonathan Scott Gration.
You can see and hear Gration speak at a Tribute To Retired Generals that took place just before Obama's acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention last summer: Gration Speech.
Other potential candidates for the job reportedly include former astronaut Charlie Bolden, former astronaut Sally Ride, former NASA science chief Alan Stern, former NASA science chief Wesley Huntress and Scott Hubbard, former director of NASA's Ames Research Center and a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.
The nomination of a military officer to head NASA likely would raise questions about the potential "militarization" of NASA. But people familiar with the incoming administration's review of the agency note that military officers and many retired from the armed services have held high management positions in NASA over the year.
Also likely to be raised are questions about whether the nomination is an indication of the direction the incoming administration might take with regard to the potential use of military rockets to loft NASA's Apollo-style Orion spacecraft. People familiar with the NASA review say that would be reading too much into the selection if Gration indeed is nominated for the NASA Administrator post.
In his last post with the Air Force, Gration was responsible for formulation and staff direction of the execution of basic military and political policy as well as planning for command activities involving relations with other U.S. Unified Commands, allied military and international military organizations and subordinate commands.
He official Air Force bio says he also was responsible for the development of force structure requirements; conducting studies, analyses, and assessments; and for evaluating military forces, plans, programs, and strategies.
Gration's experience in the development of strategy and policy might serve him well if he ends up in the NASA post. The incoming Obama Administration faces a number of key strategy and policy decisions in regard to the scheduled 2010 retirement of NASA's shuttle fleet and the ongoing development of Ares rockets and Orion spacecraft for missions to the moon.
As it stands, the U.S. will rely on Russia to fly American astronauts to and from the International Space Station during an anticipated five-year gap between shuttle fleet retirement and the first piloted flights of the Ares/Orion system in 2015.
Gration's bio shows experience both in international affairs and Russian relations. He took part in the Executive Program For General Officers of the Russian Federation and the United States at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1999.
Gration was raised in Africa and according to sources, he helped Obama put together a trip to the continent during the campaign.
He entered the Air Force in 1974 through the Air Force ROTC program at Rutgers University. He previously served as an operations group commander and two-time wing commander.
Gration also served as Director of Regional Affairs in the Office of the Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs.
He was a command pilot with more than 5,000 flight hours, including more than 2,000 hours as an instructor pilot. He has extensive combat experience in the Middle East and served as the Commander of Task Force West during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Gration’s aerial combat experience includes 274 combat missions over Iraq -- 983 hours of combat time.
5 comments:
Nooooooooooooo!!!! This could potentially be a disaster. Can you say Forrest McCartney? Pick one of the well-qualified Astronauts or someone who has worked within the NASA organization.
I would hope that the newest human-launch vehicle, whatever it be, does not suffer from the same mess created during the shuttle design pahse, as it was enlarged to meet military needs. Keep the people on top, in a nice simple safe machine!
Kiss arse!
Since you all are seem to be brazen with the comments...please explain the ANONS!
I don't get it, in terms of why this is such a wrong person to select for the job.
Being a former AF general, he clearly has considerable experience in dealing with large groups of people... particularly with his direct experience in being the commanding officer over the USAF space wings. That alone ought to speak volumes about his qualifications for understanding both the bureaucratic and technical requirements for being the NASA administrator.
I really don't know who else is better qualified, at least from a purely paper review. He certainly is on the short list of qualified people. Not only that, but NASA needs a little bit of tree-shaking going on with somebody from outside of the normal NASA bureaucracy. There is far too much inbreeding of ideas in NASA as it is.
Of course, Mike Griffin was viewed as somebody well qualified for the position as NASA administrator... even by those who are currently critics of Mr. Griffin. I certainly don't see the selection of Jonathan Gration as being the end of the world.
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