Keith’s note: according to the NASA OIG report Evaluation of NASA’s Information Security Program under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act for Fiscal Year 2025: “The Federal Information Security Modernization Act requires the Office of Inspector General to conduct an annual evaluation of NASA’s information security program. For fiscal year 2025, we rated NASA’s information security program at a Level 3 – meaning policies, procedures, and strategies were consistently implemented, but quantitative and qualitative effectiveness measures were lacking – a rating that falls short to be considered effective.”

Keith’s note: the following was sent out to users of the NCCS MSS – NASA Center for Climate Simulation MSS (Mass Storage System) managed out of NASA Goddard: (more below)

Keith’s note: Mike Witt, NASA’s Senior Agency Information Security Officer (SAISO) and Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Cybersecurity and Privacy is leaving the agency shortly. Best wishes, Mike.

Keith’s note: here we go again. A new GAO report: Cybersecurity: NASA Needs to Fully Implement Risk Management is out. Yawn. Once a year GAO, NASA OIG, or some other authoritative body does a review of NASA IT security and they come back and say that NASA is dragging its feet and not dealing with the ever-growing plethora of cyber events that confront us all. NASA writes a letter back saying yea, we’re sorry, I guess you are right but we have an action item to look into this. See you next year. Here are some examples of the past few years: (More below)

Keith’s note: According to this press release “Committee Leaders Demand Answers from NASA on DOGE Access After the Agency Refuses to Comply with Investigation“ specific instances of DOGE employees (who are named) with unparalleled access to NASA sensitive information have been identified. NASA has not been forth coming in their responses to earlier Congressional inquires in this regard. Now Congress wants answers, saying “The information we have reviewed of NASA’s vulnerability to DOGE-related threats is chilling.” Full release and letter below:

Keith’s note: Update from NASA GRC: “DOGE has come to NASA Glenn. One contractor has been confirmed fired by DOGE. We’re scouring our WiFi and government computers and software for information. We’ve been instructed to answer DOGE employees with only “Yes”, “No”, or to refer them to our division chief. Everyone here is on the edge of their seat with terror and anxiety as you could imagine.”

Keith’s note: According to the Washington Post: “The DOGE team plans to replicate this process across many departments and agencies, accessing the back-end software at different parts of the government and then using AI technology to extract and sift through information about spending on employees and programs, including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, according to another person familiar with the DOGE process, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to describe it. – The Technology Transformation Services section of the General Services Administration, a group established during the Obama administration to make government platforms more accessible and intuitive, has become a key tool of the DOGE.”

Keith’s note: I got a note back from NASA PAO in response to my comments on their new beta website yesterday: “Thank you for taking the time to check out the beta site. We’ve forwarded your comments to the team members who are working in real-time to continue updating and improving the new site. We appreciate feedback, and don’t hesitate to let us know if you find other issues or questions.” I replied: “Thanks. Here’s more – Comments generated in real time – if a 67 year old guy sitting in his basement can find all these errors in a matter of minutes doing random clicking – yet your IT contractor has not even thought to do in-house beta testing FIRST before inviting millions of people to weigh in – then you have a problematic website contractor. Just sayin'” [my detailed additional comments below.]

Keith’s note: NASA PAO and SMD have repeatedly told me that the NASA Astrobiology program’s Twitter account @NASAAstrobio and its official website would be unable to link to or follow my twitter account @Astrobiology (with nearly 22,000 followers) or its companion website Astrobiology.com which ranks in the 3rd – 4th search results for “astrobiology” on Google, Yahoo etc. – globally – and has for decades (since 1996 to be exact). […]

Keith’s note: You may have noticed that I am doing a global critique of NASA’s education and public outreach activities. The prime public face that NASA outs forth – the way it explains itself to the public – are its websites and social media. NASA lives to brag about the sheer size of what they do online – which is easily the most diverse and pervasive of any American government […]