- If the conclusion in the Columbia tragedy is not controversial,
the investigators themselves will more than make up for it. What with NASA
spokespersons contradicting each other, theories being put forth, then
dismissed only to be postulated again and finally admitting to the obvious,
if the public isnât confused, they arenât paying attention.
And this doesnât even involve the so-called ãindependent ã
panel appointed by NASA Administrator Sean OâKeefe.
Early on the first hypothesis was that tiles had come off that were damaged
on takeoff. Then, that was dismissed since that had been investigated a
day or two after liftoff, using projections and simulations. A few days
later that theory was put back on the table since no better theory arose.
That is, no theory they were willing to consider.
Two photographs, one taken in California and the other in Nevada, showed
the shuttle being hit by significant electrical discharges of some kind.
NASAâs first reaction to the California picture was that something
may have been wrong with the camera or it was jiggled (although on a tripod)
when the photo was snapped accounting for the lightning-like streak that
appeared to hit the Columbia.
However that theory died when the camera manufacturer tested 1.000 identical
cameras (which were digital contrary to initial reports, thus not requiring
film to be developed) and could not duplicate the phenomenon.
That was before the Nevada photograph surfaced. Then the theory was advanced
that the bolt of electricity could have been a ãPixieä a fairly
common phenomenon where, in certain weather conditions, electrical discharges
jump from clouds to the Ionosphere and vice versa.
That was immediately discounted by outside scientists and meteorologists
(who are also scientists, before I get any hate mail) pointing out that
there were no clouds or adverse weather conditions at that time. NASA has
on several occasions delayed shuttle re-entry to avoid storm conditions.
Since then, NASA and the media have been doing their best to ignore both
images.
Then NASA officials pointed to the fact that, up until then, no debris
had been found west of Texas, which didnât support the eyewitness
who said he saw pieces breaking off the shuttle over California.
However, yesterday (Wednesday) NASA finally admitted the obvious. The shuttle
started to break up over California. Of course any first year physics student,
or even common sense, would tell one that pieces coming off an object traveling
at 21 time the speed of sound at an altitude of more than 43 miles, would
not touch down anywhere near where they came off. NASA also pledged that
any further information would be released through the ãindependentä
panel.
The NASA charter for the panel has already been revised three times in
incremental efforts to give the perception of independence from NASA. NASA
Administrator Sean OâKeefe has made all the appointments. In this
writerâs article of Feb. 8, it was pretty much established that the
panel, as it was constituted then, was loaded with military brass with
connections to the Air Force directed energy weapons programs.
It has been acknowledged that one of the experiments carried out on the
Columbia was the release of two miniature satellites into space from the
shuttle. Called ãpicosatellitesä developed by defense contractor
The Aerospace Corporation and funded by DARPA, they are the precursors
of inspector satellites to spy on other full-size satellites.
A local sheriff in Texas has reported some of the shuttle debris recovered
is radioactive. So far there has been no confirmation or denial from NASA.
One science writer claims an experimental night vision multi-spectral telescope
that was powered by a new isotope used in nuclear power named Americium
ö242 was used in the Columbiaâs orbiting around the earth to
evaluate vapors in Iraq evidencing night-time disposal of chemical weapons
material.
The panel has a momentous task to sort everything out and didnât
really need the unnecessary controversies it has brought on itself (or
been visited on it by OâKeefeâs appointments).
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- For starters, a NASA spokesperson said OâKeefe
appointed the panel the day after the Columbia crash. However, OâKeefe
later told the press that the panel was in place before the Columbia tragedy
as part of a contingency plan following the Challenger disaster.
Two appointments made over the weekend have stirred the pot. The first,
Sheila E. Widnall, a MIT professor seemed innocuous enough although she
is also a former Air Force Secretary in the Clinton administration. We
now find that she also was a paid consultant to the Boeing Corporation.
Boeing and its joint venture partner Lockheed Martin in United Space Alliance
manage both the space station and shuttle programs. The joint venture is
shielded from liability in the tragedy as NASA has indemnified it.
MIT and a spinoff (MITRE) are very much involved with the military space
program. Widnall has been joined on the MIT faculty by John Deutch, former
Director of the CIA and a Director of the Council on Foreign Relations
(CFR) and CitiGroup.
In 1959, MIT spun off its Lincoln Laboratory as a private company and renamed
it MITRE. Its first Chairman of the Board of Trustees was H. Rowan Gaither.
"In the fall of 1953, Norman Dodd, Director of Research for the Reece
Committee, was invited to the headquarters of the Ford Foundation by its
president, H. Rowan Gaither (CFR).
According to Dodd, Gaither told him: "Mr. Dodd, all of us here at
the policy-making level have had experience, either in O.S.S. or the European
Economic Administration, with directives from the White House. We operate
under those directives here. Would you like to know what those directives
are?" Dodd replied that he would. Gaither said: "The substance
of them is that we shall use our grant-making power so to alter our life
in the United States that we can be comfortably merged with the Soviet
Union."
MITRE has been involved in weapons development with the DOD since inception.
Its first facility outside of Massachusetts was at the Peterson Air Force
Base in Colorado, home of the Air Force Space Command. MITRE also developed
the unmanned planes the CIA is now using for reconnaissance (and assassination).
Most of the DOD appropriations for directed energy weapons go to the Air
Force. However, the Department of Energy has played a large role in the
research and development of the weapons. At least four of the department's
10 secret laboratories are involved in the general category of "directed
energy" weapons. All ten of the labs are "GOCO's" that is
government owned, contractor operated.
For instance, DOE's Sandia lab located at Kirtland Air Force Base is in
the forefront of directed energy research and experimentation. It has a
23000 square meter building that houses the world's most powerful gamma
simulator. It is capable of generating extremely short bursts of an electron
beam of 13 trillion watts. It is used primarily for simulating the effects
of prompt radiation from a nuclear burst on electronics and complete military
systems. The contractor managing the Sandia lab is Lockheed Martin.
The Air Force operates 14 space weapons programs in space, and at least
two ground based platforms including Sandia and the HAARP installation
in Alaska masquerading as a scientific examination into the effects of
high auroral activity on the ionosphere.
OâKeefeâs second appointment over the weekend may be the most
controversial. Roger Tetrault was supposed to quell criticism that the
panelâs members are too close to NASA. However, the Orlando Sentinel
disclosed the day after his appointment that Tetrault is former Chairman
and CEO of McDermott, International at the same time that OâKeefe
was a director and member of the audit committee on a subsidiary, J. Ray
McDermott of which Tetrault was also the chairman of the board.
Before becoming CEO of McDermott International, Tetrault was vice president
of a McDermott subsidiary, Babcock and Wilcox, which made parts for the
shuttlesâ solid rocket boosters.
Another McDermott subsidiary, BWXT is the sole supplier of nuclear fuel
for the U.S. Navy and for research and test reactor fuel for DOEâs
national laboratories. It also processes enriched uranium. In partnership
with Bechtel National, Inc. it manages the DOEâs Oak Ridge uranium
enrichment operation. Another joint venture of McDermott International
(DynMcDermott) with DynCorp has for the last nine years, and will for the
next five years, manage the DOEâs U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
In 1999, during OâKeefe and Tetraultâs tenure at J. Ray McDermott,
former vice-president Littleton Edwards Walker pled guilty to one felony
count of bid rigging. On May 16, 2000, the former president of the company,
Michael Harless Lam, was indicted on one count of conspiracy in bid rigging
and two counts of mail fraud. As far as this writer can determine, the
above is the first mention in the media of the guilty plea and indictment
in relation to OâKeefe and Tetraultâs involvement with NASA
or the Columbia investigation. But you can bet it wonât be the last.
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material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes.)
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- Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its
entirety.
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- The author is a freelance writer based in Romulus, Michigan.
He is a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs
administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution.
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please contact the author at jimrarey@comcast.net.
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