Keith’s note: NASA PAO responded to an inquiry from Cleveland Plain Dealer: “The NASA Headquarters building lease is up in 2028, and the agency is looking at options to lease a different facility in the Washington, D.C. area. NASA does not have plans to build a new headquarters. In compliance with the Executive Order signed Jan. 20, NASA employees returned to full-time onsite work by Feb. 28.” Whatever. FWIW the item I posted on 13 March “The New NASA Is Emerging“ is still equally accurate/inaccurate – all of the ideas and brain farts for chopping up/rearranging the deck chairs at NASA are still in play – leases or PAO statements not withstanding.

Keith’s note: Team DOGE tweeted this yesterday – $420 million in supposed savings but they only use the minimum number of words to fit into a tweet to explain. Then NASA PAO sends out a response to some media (but not others) with an attempt at an explanation: “NASA is committed to optimizing its workforce and resources in alignment with [DOGE] initiatives. As part of this effort NASA has identified and phased out $420 million in contracts that were determined to be redundant or misaligned with our core mission priorities. This streamlining effort ensures that taxpayer dollars are directed toward the highest-impact projects while maintaining NASA’s essential functions at the highest level of execution. In total, we are aiming for these measures to result in considerably more savings for the American people, reinforcing our commitment to efficiency, innovation, and continued leadership in space exploration.” Huh? I’d like to ask for an explanation of the criteria used to review previously acceptable NASA financial grants, contracts etc. and how they determined if any of these things were now suddenly “redundant or misaligned” or what is “highest impact” vs “lower impact” means – i.e. how is it defined. But PAO would simply send more word salad – if they even replied.

Keith’s note: Greg Autry has been nominated to be the next NASA CFO. In other words he’ll be NASA DOGEFather. Based on earlier public comments you can expect zero sympathy for the erasure of NASA’s greatest asset: its diverse expertise (see screen grab below). Update: official NASA words. Oh yes: they spelled his name wrong in the nomination. Nice way to start. “PN55-3 — Gregory Autrey — National Aeronautics and Space Administration https://www.congress.gov/nomination/119th-congress/55/3 — 03/24/2025 Placed on Senate Executive Calendar in the Privileged Nomination section with nominee information requested by the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, pursuant to S.Res. 116, 112th Congress.” (more below)

Keith’s note: According to texts I have seen from verified sources, this is the sort of thing that DOGE employees use to try and recruit new employees within the space community: “… the opening is in Washington, DC with DOGE. Requires candidates to be non-woke, non-left-Kamala camp, and pro-Elon”.

Keith’s 18 March note: According to NASA sources there is another “Tiger Team Rollout Briefing” for NASA Center Directors at NASA HQ on Friday at 9:00 am EDT. Center Directors will be given an update on what has been discussed about the upcoming RIF at NASA. However, information to be revealed to attendees is likely to be held closely for the time being. The meeting on Friday will include NASA HQ senior management, Center directors, and some DOGE guys.

Keith’s note: this went out to a vast portion of the NASA workforce today. I guess we know what people will be working on over the weekend – spreadsheets, not brackets. From what I am told by NASA sources anyone can see virtually anything they want – even if it is not their own stuff. No, I do not have – or ever want – access to this sort of proprietary/confidential stuff. Full memo below (spreadsheet and link do not work).

Keith’s note: There will be a 30 minute hybrid meeting today (17 March) at 4:30 pm EDT between Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro and her staff, the NASA Trump Administration political appointees, and DOGE. DOGE employees Scott Michael Coulter, Riley Sennott, and Alexander Simonpour will be attending. As I previously noted there will be a NASA RIF Tiger Team Rollout Meeting at NASA HQ tomorrow (Tuesday 18 March).

Keith’s note: Have a look at Executive Order 14222–Implementing the President’s “Department of Government Efficiency” Cost Efficiency Initiative which is all about “This order commences a transformation in Federal spending on contracts, grants, and loans to ensure Government spending is transparent and Government employees are accountable to the American public.” While everyone is preparing to be fired or competes in a RIF process against other coworkers to keep their job; conducts all of that highly sophisticated rocket science stuff that keeps all the spaceships working; and/or explores the universe; they also need to worry about all of these quick turnaround tasks in the next 30-60 days (Greatest hits below):

Keith’s note: Some notes from inside the NASA Goddard all hands this morning: 1. while DOGE people are not currently onsite at GSFC they all have badges and have systems access to everything. They are under no obligation to inform the GSFC center director if they come in or explain what they want to do. 2. The NASA administrator will not be providing any further guidance to NASA employees regarding the latest 5 bullet email that everyone got over the weekend – so NASA employees are pretty much left to make a personal choice. A round of boos was heard when this was mentioned.

Keith’s note: Here we go again: more DOGE homework assignments – sent out at 9:20 pm EST on a Friday night. Update: Apparently this is now going to be regular DOGE homework on a weekly basis. Multiple agencies have reported that their employees got this notice too and agencies have responded to their workforce about how – or if – to respond. According to the Washington post: “‘NASA acting administrator Janet Petro wrote Friday to staff warning them that “government-wide communications may reach you before we receive clear implementation guidance,” according to a copy of her message reviewed by The Washington Post. If workers receive another such communication over the weekend, they should temporarily ignore it, Petro wrote. “Please give yourself a moment, and when you’re back on duty, check in with your supervisor or other agency leader before taking action,” Petro wrote. “Ultimately, we want to reduce your stress and provide clarity as we work through these requests together.”