Keith’s note: according to today’s “Restoring Accountability To Policy-Influencing Positions Within the Federal Workforce” Executive Order:

• In recent years, however, there have been numerous and well-documented cases of career Federal employees resisting and undermining the policies and directives of their executive leadership. Principles of good administration, therefore, necessitate action to restore accountability to the career civil service, beginning with positions of a confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating character.
• Sec. 2. Reinstatement of Prior Administration Policy. Executive Order 13957 of October 21, 2020 (Creating Schedule F in the Excepted Service), is hereby immediately reinstated with full force and effect, subject to the amendments described in section 3 of this order; provided that the date of this order shall be treated as the date of Executive Order 13957.
• (b) Employees in or applicants for Schedule Policy/Career positions are not required to personally or politically support the current President or the policies of the current administration. They are required to faithfully implement administration policies to the best of their ability, consistent with their constitutional oath and the vesting of executive authority solely in the President. Failure to do so is grounds for dismissal.”

Keith’s note: according to today’s “Reforming The Federal Hiring Process and Restoring Merit to Government Service” Executive Order: “Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of “equity,” or one’s commitment to the invented concept of “gender identity” over sex. Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates. … This Federal Hiring Plan shall:

• (i) prioritize recruitment of individuals committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution;
• (ii) prevent the hiring of individuals based on their race, sex, or religion, and prevent the hiring of individuals who are unwilling to defend the Constitution or to faithfully serve the Executive Branch;
• (iii) implement, to the greatest extent possible, technical and alternative assessments as required by the Chance to Compete Act of 2024;
• (iv) decrease government-wide time-to-hire to under 80 days;

Keith’s note: the impact of the fires in California with regard to the JPL community is now becoming abundantly clear.

• Eaton Fire Leaves California Landscape Charred, NASA: “On the afternoon of January 11, 2025, NASA’s AVIRIS-3 (Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer-3) flew aboard a B200 aircraft over Los Angeles County, where it captured images of several areas affected by wildland fires.”
• Southern California Wildfires Impact Caltech Community, Caltech: “More than 250 individuals and families across campus and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have lost their homes to the fires, while more than 1,800 remain temporarily displaced due to evacuation orders; lack of working power, gas, and/or safe water; and other circumstances. … The Caltech and JPL Disaster Relief Fund, which was launched Friday, January 10, has already received more than $2 million in commitments from more than 2,000 donors.”
• Over 200 NASA JPL, Caltech employees lose homes from Los Angeles wildfires, Fox Weather: “Los Angeles wildfires are devastating all industries in Southern California, including NASA and Caltech faculty and staff – the hard-working minds behind key space exploration research and technology.”

JPL statement issued on Nov. 12, 2024: “While we have taken various measures to meet our current FY’25 budget allocation, we have reached the difficult decision to reduce the JPL workforce through layoffs. This reduction affects approximately 325 of our colleagues, an impact of about 5% of our workforce. The impacts are occurring across technical, business, and support areas of the Laboratory. These are painful but necessary adjustments that will enable us to adhere to our budget while continuing our important work for NASA and our nation. The following is a memo sent earlier today from JPL Director Laurie Leshin to employees:”

Keith’s note: according to his Full obituary: “Darrell Glenn Bailey, 65, passed away on April 24, 2024, while enjoying his favorite pastime of cycling with friends from around north Alabama. Born in Wurzburg, Germany, Darrell grew up in Liberty, NC. where he graduated from Southeast Guilford High School. He earned his dual degree in math and physics from The University of North Carolina-Greensboro where he met his future wife, Phyllis Crumbley Bailey. After graduating from college, he moved to Huntsville, Alabama to pursue his career at NASA where he faithfully worked for 41 years. Most recently, Darrell served as the lead of the Integrated Avionics Test Facilities for the Space Launch System Program.” Ad Astra.

Keith’s note: Sources report that the internal NASA Planning, Programming, Budgeting, and Execution (PPBE) process has included discussion of a possible RIF in FY 2025. The budget is that bad folks. Stay tuned. Maybe Senator Administrator Bill Nelson can enlighten everyone as to how bad the NASA budget situation really is. NASA is not going to be doing a robust Artemis program or MSR or many of other big new things it wants to do in a budget environment with RIFs. RIFs can be brutal, pit one employee against another, decimate morale, and prompt people to find a more secure job.

Keith’s note: It has been 2 days – still no comment from American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation, National Space Society, Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, Space Foundation etc. – the big supporters of human and commercial space – about the welfare of NASA JPL and other NASA employees that have been laid off? WTF? Human/commercial space people can’t be bothered to support NASA workforce? The people who build exploration missions are not worth sticking up for? FYI Artemis and ISS and LEO funding aren’t immune by any means either. United we stand, Divided we fall. Update: NSS responded – see tweet below. If you ever needed evidence that they are clueless/irrelevant, this is it.

According to Legacy.com: “After serving in the Air Force, Ike began working for NASA. There, he held a series of jobs starting with managing the Delta Program, which launched communication and weather satellites into orbit. He later oversaw the approach and landing tests of the space shuttle as the Director of Space Shuttle Operations, which led to his becoming the first Black person to lead a NASA center as the Director of NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center. Next, Ike was appointed as a science advisor to the White House, before serving as the first associate administrator of the Office of Commercial Programs (OCP), that expanded private sector investment in space activities. In the late 1980s, Ike moved to the private sector, initially as Senior Vice President for OAO Corp., and later, for Allied Signal (Honeywell), where he retired.” Ad Astra Ike

Family note: “It is with a heavy heart that the Redmond family announces the passing of Chas Redmond. Our loving grandfather/father/husband/brother passed away on November 6th. He will be forever remembered for his laugh, art, music, kindness, adventurous spirit, and the joy he brought to so many.” Keith’s note: I think I knew Chas for nearly all of my 38+ years in DC in and around NASA. He was a multi-talented, creative guy at PAO before creativity was really considered a valuable asset for NASA public affairs. He was fascinated by the whole NASAWatch thing in the 90s and how it developed. Over the past decade or more we interacted multiple times a week on Facebook. Even when his body was doing its best to thwart him he kept going and going. We’ll miss you Chas. Class Act. Ad Astra.

According to NASA PAO: “The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on the passing of former NASA astronaut Rear Adm. (ret.) Thomas K. (TK) Mattingly II. “We lost one of our country’s heroes on Oct. 31. NASA astronaut TK Mattingly was key to the success of our Apollo Program, and his shining personality will ensure he is remembered throughout history.” More