RIF? What RIF?

Conversation With Mike Griffin, Aerospace America, AIAA (PDF)

“AIAA: “Do you see, in the next year or so as the budget situation gets tighter, any need for reductions in force in the NASA field centers?”

Mike Griffin: “Most certainly not. NASA has three main functions, three main mission areas: human spaceflight, science, and aeronautics. Now the Bush administration’s Vision for Space Exploration is primarily about altering the direction in which we take human spaceflight; supplementing that, of course, with robotic exploration of the type we already do. So certainly we will not damage a robust space science program, nor will we further cut aeronautics research, in order to fund the human spaceflight program.”

Editor’s note: I am a little confused. If NASA’s leader says that there aren’t going to be any RIFs, then why are field centers preparing for one? This RIF-related memo from ARC was issued just the other day. So was this one from GRC. Go here. There’s more.