Keith’s 8:54 am EDT note: Former NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes is coming back – to NASA KSC as Senior Director of Launch Operations based at KSC and will report to NASA HQ with direct responsibilities KSC and Wallops. Update 10:23 am EDT: here is the official release

Keith’s note: According to a release “Science Committee Democratic Staff Report Reveals Details on NASA’s Illegal Implementation of Trump’s FY2026 Budget Request Without Congressional Approval” – “A Presidential budget request means nothing until Congress acts on it,” said Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren. “And in 2025, NASA implemented Trump’s budget proposal illegally, without any approval from Congress. The agency violated the basic separation-of-powers framework set forth in the Constitution. NASA’s actions derailed critical projects, demoralized its employees, and broke its trust with the scientific community and the private sector. NASA repeatedly denied what it was doing, but the facts prove otherwise. This staff report provides an overview of the evidence my team has gathered and highlights the damage NASA inflicted upon itself by yielding to pressure from OMB instead of following the law.” More below

Keith’s note: according to Brian Hughes exits NASA, teases ‘new chapter’ “Brian Hughes, who most recently has served as Chief of Staff at NASA, says he’s exiting that role and preparing for his next move. On LinkedIn Hughes posted “NASA is entering an exciting new era under Jared and President Trump.”

Keith’s note: according to this Reuters article: “NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes speaking at the same town hall, agreed, saying it would “probably be considered irresponsible” to wait for the congressional budget process. The letter added that Hughes recently ordered NASA science programs targeted for cancellation in Trump’s budget request to stop issuing press releases celebrating new scientific results and achievements.” In addition, senior staff at recent meetings at NASA with Hughes have been told not to expect any help from Congress in pushing back against the plan embodied in the President’s FY 2026 Budget Request i.e. multiple mission cancellations and large personnel layoffs. This is in direct contrast to an offer made last week to senior NASA staff by Acting Interim Administrator Duffy to listen to – and then consider – pushing for budget increases (restoration) for items planned for deletion – if a solid case can be made. And today the “Voyager Declaration”, signed by many NASA employees complaint about a variety of unpopular actions, certainly made national news. Word has it that Hughes and his staff were not at all pleased by this or the news coverage – especially CNN’s article. Meanwhile, consolidation of and deletion of various NASA social media accounts continues. Of course this has a side benefit of allowing those missions now scheduled to go away to not have any mention made of whatever scientific results they are still quite capable of providing. This of course hastens the ability for them to just fade away.

Keith’s note: Apparently NASA Interim Administrator Sean Duffy was actually onsite at NASA HQ briefly last Friday. Some sort of video message from Duffy is supposed to be coming out according to NASA Chief of Staff Brian Hughes. At some point Duffy will be allowed to talk to actual NASA employees. But wait – is Duffy actually in charge of NASA? Do drive-by’s count? Or is this how you manage DOT and NASA at the same time? Who runs NASA when Duffy is doing his other day job? Meanwhile, the NASA Leadership page still says that Janet Petro is Acting Administrator. But she’s not, right? As you scroll down the page the next face that comes up is Acting Associate Administrator Vanessa Wyche. So is she in charge? Or is the next face – Casey Swails, Deputy Associate Administrator? We don’t see Brian Hughes’ face – but he’s actually in charge – apparently. Didn’t we go through this whole “who’s in charge of NASA thing” on Inauguration Day? Meanwhile we have no official Sean Duffy pics at NASA so I’ll use the ones we find online like this one from the Washington Post. Stay tuned.

Keith’s note: Looks like @NASA has a new Chief of Staff: Brian Hughes from Jacksonville, FL. LinkedIn profile – @BrianHughes47 and @BrianHughes