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NASA Technical Reports Server Mysteriously Taken Offline

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
March 20, 2013
Filed under ,

NTRS Collections – NASA Technical Reports Server
“Until further notice, the NTRS system will be unavailable for public access. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and anticipate that this site will return to service in the near future.”
Keith’s note: NASA just yanks this website offline. No press release, no official notice at NASA.gov. Why is this invaluable resource offline? NASA brags about all of its spinoffs and then one of the largest online repositories thereof is stealthily taken offline. Oddly these related NASA sites with linkage to NTRS are still online for “public access”.
JPL Technical Report Server
NASA Johnson Technical Reports Server
Oh wait – there’s this item from Rep. Wolf the other day. Coincidence?
Wolf: Chinese National Potentially Involved In NASA Langley Security Violations
“Second: NASA should immediately take down all publicly available technical data sources until all documents that have not been subjected to export control review have received such a review and all controlled documents are removed from the system.”
Keith’s update: According to a response from NASA HQ PAO this morning “It’s down for review to ensure there is no sensitive content on the server.” Why is it that NASA cannot be honest with people in the note on the NTRS website and explain why the site is offline? What is really baffling is how this site could have been online – for decades – and not have had a process to prevent inapproprate material from being posted. Did Rep. Wolf’s office actually find something online – specifically at NTRS – that shouldn’t have been there – or is this a knee jerk reaction – on both sides? Why aren’t other NASA technical information websites offline? When I sent an inquiry to the person listed as the point of contact for NTRS he declined to reply and referred me to LaRC PAO.

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.

15 responses to “NASA Technical Reports Server Mysteriously Taken Offline”

  1. Denniswingo says:
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    This is bad, very bad, for everyone.

  2. DocM says:
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    But prudent from the security standpoint. Given the security issues lately, from Chinese internet intrusions to unsecured laptops, it seems better safe than sorry.

    • Anonymous says:
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      Frankly horsecrap.  The NTRS is an invaluable source of research for the public in the U.S. and the world.  The historical documentation and their efforts and conserving our history is world class.  

      Might someone get ideas from reading the papers? Yep, maybe in 500 years when China rules the solar system and Americans are peeing in outdoor toilets it can be an object lesson on how a nation abdicates its future in order to pander for a few votes.

  3. Jeff2Space says:
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    This is ridiculous.  Unfortunately, ITAR rules are vague enough that such actions can be taken and would be considered legal. 

  4. rblake1225 says:
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    yes, bad news, but the mirror site is stillup …

  5. Douglas Hudgins says:
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    Nothing mysterious here.  Per the transcript of Rep. Wolf’s press conference the other day:

    “Second: NASA should immediately take down all publicly available
    technical data sources until all documents that have not been subjected
    to export control review have received such a review and all controlled
    documents are removed from the system.”

    I’m amazed that NASA hasn’t panicked and pulled down a lot more web sites.

    DMH

  6. Marc Boucher says:
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    Hopefully the sites will be back online in short order. They definitely provide a useful tool for research.

  7. Jeff2Space says:
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    If the mirror site is still up, what’s the point of taking down the NASA site?  That is, unless the hunt for “controlled documents” is eventually expanded and hosts of such websites are threatened with legal action unless they take down any suspect documents.   Universities and other research institutions ought to keep a close eye on this, lest they be next.

    • rblake1225 says:
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      i guess, first, the mirror is outside the direct control of NASA, and second, it looks like it only covers NACA reports.

      but you have to admit, it is pretty astounding that such a resource is openly available to everyone.  yes, i get that it is paid for by the US taxpaper (thank you) but making it available this way (on the internet) is uncontrollable, unlimitable.  you can see how it started, but internet function, and reach, have expanded beyond those earlier, more innocent, times … 

      • Jeff2Space says:
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        Which is why I made the comment about universities.  All of the university technical libraries I’ve ever been in will let anyone walk right in and take a look at what’s there.  There is no security, yet they would have many of the same papers, especially if they were published in a technical journal.

  8. MrChuckie says:
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    The odd thing about taking down ntrs is that it is the one site for which passing through an export control review is required before anything can be posted to it.  Of all the sites within the nasa.gov domain, it should be the last one to be taken down.

  9. Ed. says:
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    I was always amused by NTRS as in many cases for contractor work the civil servant who entered the report would be added as an author to the work in the database but was not involved in any of the actual research. I’ve seen some very puzzling citations. Just the NASA mindset.

  10. William Ogilvie says:
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    Ridiculous!  Every paper written by a NASA employee or contractor already has to pass an examination for ITAR compliance before being published. 

  11. Gary Williams says:
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     Rubbish. Look at the wording ‘the NTRS system will be unavailable for public access.’ – PUBLIC access. This suggests that it’s available for INTERNAL access.

  12. Gary Williams says:
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     Then you were lied to. Have a look at this -> http://www.washingtonpost.c

    Note this bit in the story:

    ‘Bolden said he also closed down the NASA technical reports database
    while officials review whether there is a risk of export-controlled
    documents being made available on that publicly available website.’

    So if Bolden is saying that the NTRS might contain ITAR sensitive information why isn’t the PAO?