Just days after Dan Goldin announced he was leaving his post as NASA administrator (see Physics Today Physics Today 0031-9228 54 12 2001 22 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1445535 December 2001, page 22 ), President Bush surprised the science community by naming Sean O’Keefe, a nonscientist, for the job. The 45-year-old O’Keefe comes to NASA from his position as deputy director at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The nomination came on 14 November, after an 11-month search for Goldin’s replacement. “Everyone at NASA feels better now that someone has been named,” says Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator for space science. “It’s not good for morale, having a long time without an announcement about a successor.”
O’Keefe’s Senate confirmation was a shoo-in. “I know he will bring a realistic, results-oriented approach to addressing the management problems that have bedeviled NASA,” says Representative Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science...
