Going From Jail to Mars, and Beyond - director of NASA's Robotic Lunar Exploration Program

Washington Post ^ | February 11, 2005 | Al Kamen

[Cincinatus' Wife]

..........Jasin said in his appeal that he believed his actions were legal because he'd been assured they had been approved by officials in Washington. The judge in the case, who could have sentenced him to five years, reduced the sentence to two years.

"I still love my country," Jasin told reporters at his 1998 sentencing. "But I'm afraid of my government." Well, maybe not too afraid.

Unclear how Jasin got hired by NASA -- apparently even before the federal prosecutors had dismissed his indictment. Word is NASA never checked with federal prosecutors.

Asked about these matters, NASA spokeswoman Dolores Beasley said: "We do not comment on personnel issues."

[carumba]

Unclear how Jasin got hired by NASA -- apparently even before the federal prosecutors had dismissed his indictment. Word is NASA never checked with federal prosecutors.

Just don't put the guy in a position of fiduciary trust. Looks like he is handling the robots just fine.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

O'Keefe started the process to clean up NASA and his successor must pick up the pace to get the right people - those who understand the President's Vision is to return to the Moon, where we'll learn to live and work off planet and use those resources to expand our reach into space.

The new administrator will need to weed out those who continue to obstruct and deflect from this objective. Ten years of Goldin left the agency in a crisis, now we have a mission and personnel who understand what is needed for a U. S. space program. Unfortunately there is still a huge faction hoping to knock the wheels off a lunar return, preferring to go to Mars with robots.

Sometimes I wonder if those people have U.S. interests at heart.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

How would someone like this get a security clearance?

[AppyPappy]

Oh well. There's always White House reporter.

[carumba]

Either someone wanted him because of his credentials, a higher up has sympathy for him, or the security level was on par with the Walmart cleaning crew.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

According to the story, he thought he had approval to sell the embargoed arms - that is laughable - there are too many hoops to jump through to have a misunderstanding.

A high level security clearance is not just handed out, so either he doesn't have one, or if he does, questions need to be asked.

Credentials? No one is indispensable.

Sympathy? If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

How he was let in, why and by whom, needs to be answered.

[carumba]

If you want a friend in Washington, get a dog.

This might work in Utah. I'll have to try it.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bump

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I expect in Utah, you can find friend in man and beast.

[leadhead]

Was probably set up by Clinton Admin.

Another payback the Bush Admin. felt obliged to make to one of those screwed over by C & Co.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Jasin had been vice president and then president in the 1980s of a Lancaster, Pa., technology company when he was working on the Stryker deal. He was convicted in 1992 but remained free pending appeal for nearly eight years -- longer, prosecutors said, than any convicted felon in memory who didn't flee.

This was in the H.W. Bush administration.

[carumba]

Or maybe this guy, Jestin, has compromising photos of somebody tucked away in his safety deposit box. I hear that sometimes those pitches come in high and tight.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Well, NASA needs to sort this out or ideas like that start to float around. Either you run a tight ship or you don't.

[BlackbirdSST]

This was in the H.W. Bush administration.

CW, you know I'm no fan of NASA, just thanks for keeping the conversation honest! Blackbird.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

I agree.

Because if NASA can be turned around, now is the time.

[leadhead]

Oops. Left over from Iran-Contra?

[Gunrunner2]

>>According to the story, he thought he had approval to sell the embargoed arms - that is laughable - there are too many hoops to jump through to have a misunderstanding.<<

That, my friend, is the absolute truth.