Cabana's Role in Illegal KSC Hirings – Ongoing Bad Management
NASA: Cabana played role in illegal hires at KSC, Florida Today
“Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana and other senior leaders were more involved than previously disclosed in illegal spaceport hires that may still be subject to federal investigation, according to records FLORIDA TODAY obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Auditors found the hires of three administrative assistants supporting Cabana and two other high-ranking officials on the fourth floor of KSC headquarters suggested a deliberate effort to get around federal laws requiring competition and priority consideration for certain military veterans. “OPM’s report also identified three illegal appointments in the Director’s Office that I believed may have resulted from a willful intent to violate veterans’ preference laws or to circumvent fair and open competition,” NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot wrote last year in a “Letter of Counseling” to Cabana, referring to the results of a 2013 audit by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. NASA records show Cabana identified and lobbied for three people who became known internally as the “primes,” or prime candidates, to fill openings as his executive assistant and Deputy Director Janet Petro’s secretary in mid-2012.”
Keith’s note: I have to say that this article is an impressive piece of work by James Dean. Based on his good work, it would seem that this sort of flawed management behavior is totally acceptable at KSC – starting at the top. Remember the whole Ed Mango saga? You can be convicted of a job-related felony and still keep your job at KSC. So … why is any of this other behavior surprising?
– Mango Pleads Guilty to a Job-Related Felony – Still Has a NASA Job, earlier posts
– Update: Former NASA Commercial Crew Director Mango Pleads Guilty to Federal Felony, earlier posts
Have a look at this 3 Nov 2015 internal KSC email – not only can you keep your job at KSC after pleading guilty to a felony, you get promoted.
Subject: GFAST Lead
All, As most are aware Kathy Milon has accepted a position on a Source Board and will be leaving her position in C3 soon. I first want to express a heartfelt thanks to her for her dedication and commitment to the success of GFAST and the C3 Project; truly a great job in getting us as far as we’ve come. So thank-you Kathy! Ed Mango has accepted the challenge to lead the GFAS Team, with the transition to commence immediately. I know everyone will support Ed in this new assignment and we’re fortunate to have someone of his experience ready to step in. This assignment will be for what’s likely to be for a few months as we identify a long-term solution and phase that person in over time. Please join me in thanking Kathy and wishing her well, and welcoming Ed into his new role! Please pass this info on to your teams or forward as appropriate.
Bob Willcox
So, the HR specialist that was subtly or overtly intimidated into doing this got punished and the boss walks saying he doesn’t know how he could have handled it better?
Yes, that does appear to be the end result – punishment occurs once caught, but only at the lower levels. The fall guy has to be found once the investigation outs the truth, but the fall guy is rarely if ever at the top. It’s a very typical ending to an impropriety (and worse) in NASA, or many examples elsewhere in Federal agencies and the private sector (Wall St.)
The observation ““The HR office has lost sight of its primary professional function and seems convinced that its value to KSC is judged by its ability to please individual managers,” could be said of many offices in NASA, from budgeting to finance to cost estimating, safety and reliability. I’ve seen it myself. Functions that are supposed to help managers avoid trouble, offering expert and frank advice, have become rubber stamps that are told what the answer is before the work even begins. Being frank and honest just makes the phone stop ringing and the email dry up.
As so often happens, when leadership gets to where they say mistakes were made, you know someone’s head is going to roll, in the lower decks that is.
I find it sad that Cabana is an ex-Astronaut(Shuttle COMMANDER) and Marine Colonel but yet all those years of discipline and training about the importance of honesty/integrity is just a forgotten fantasy on his part. Obviously, Bob Cabana’s bypassing of federal law is completely unacceptable.
Kudo’s go to you as well Keith for keeping us informed. Thanks!
James Dean did the real work. Kudos to him!
Cabana is a jarhead first, astronaut second.
SOP.
From what I’ve seen over many years the individual is usually selected before the job is advertised.
Nothing really seems to matter: experience, degrees, past success in the job, military background, race…..the boss gets to pick who he wants.
The managers at least at the lower levels are usually more meticulous about trying to dot the i’s and cross the t’s, than calling the individuals “primes”, But a lot at the higher levels, or those who come out of one of “the chosen”, like astronauts, aren’t usually that well versed in CS law and have sometimes been flagrant violators.
A lot of us have basically given up on applying for positions because we know it makes no difference and unless they ask you specifically to apply, its just a wasted effort.
What would be useful would be if the IG investigated the backgrounds of some of the people in “leadership” positions to see how their past translates into their current positions. And they should look at some of the people who have been repeatedly passed over to see if there is a reason. Those sorts of audits would show a lot.
If you wonder why human space flight seems to be faltering, you need not wonder anymore. Put some more people in charge whose qualifications are less than stellar.
Beautifully said. Turkeys will never fly.
From Lightfoot’s response, Cabana IS above the law. Instead of taking action they warn Cabana not to be so open about his illegality in the future.
NASA personnel said they were “focused on pleasing management and giving them what they want.” Well I’lllll beeeeeee. Imagine that. Employees focused on pleasing management. I’d never have guessed!
I wouldn’t be surprised to find such nepotism among command hires for executive assistants in the military, but the civil service should be more transparent, and no one, not even a former astronaut, should get away with flagrantly ignoring civil service hiring regulations. That said, I would advocate cutting a center director some slack in hiring one position only: his/her executive assistant. If there’s someone they’ve been working with for some time who knows what the boss is thinking before she/he says it, their work can make the director a better manager.
When you reward the guilty and punish the innocent, what else do you expect?
Anyone know what GFAST and C3 are? I’ve tried searching Google and the NASA web site but can’t find anything.
I suggest everyone read this March 2015 article by James Dean first reporting on the irregularities. In particular, pay attention to the quotes from Bob Cabana. He blames the H.R. director for not following the rules, when in reality he was the one ordering her *not* to follow the rules:
http://www.floridatoday.com…
He publicly blames her, knowing he was the one responsible for the illegal hiring.
Not new. Little Birdie says do a little research into Bob’s contract steering and bidding process/source board circumvention at JSC…
why do you think he ended up at KSC?
In this most recent exposure of corruption at NASA, what is most disturbing is not so much what Cabana was found to have done, but that Leadership, specifically Lightfoot had the opportunity to lead but chose to be part of the problem. This one lack of action will haunt him. Now its Charlie’s turn to weigh in, wonder what he’ll do?
Why on Earth would this be the concern of the NASA Administrator? And since when has any NASA Administrator publicly commented on this type of internal thing anyway?
Bolden is ex military, ex astronaut, and needs to send a clear message to others of that background that this kind of bs isn’t to be tolerated. If he isn’t condemning intimidation and coverups, he’s condoning them.
I hope your joking;)
as the saying goes – s**t flows down hill
James Dean should turn his attention to JSC….