THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 7, 1995 TAG: 9502070293
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Calling his announcement a move to ``revolutionize the structure of NASA,'' the agency's administrator on Monday announced a five-year, $5 billion cut in its budget.
The most sweeping change could mean turning over major parts of NASA's operations to private interests. Space shuttle launches appear to be a prime candidate.
Although programs at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton won't be immediately affected, personnel will. Locally and nationally, NASA will be pushing early retirement as a cost-cutting first step, hoping that 250 at Langley and 2,500 nationwide will accept a buyout worth up to $25,000.
``Make no mistake,'' said the administrator, Daniel S. Goldin. ``When this is over, NASA will be profoundly different. . . Everything - and I mean everything - is on the table.''
The most likely candidates for privatization are space-related missions. Applied engineering centers, such as NASA Langley, would continue to be run by the government, though parts of its programs could be turned over to private firms.
Even with privatization and early retirements, program cuts and cancellations appear inevitable. Firings may follow. Goldin and Langley director Paul F. Holloway declined to speculate on exactly what would live, die or be wounded. Both said the results of the buyouts would influence future agency action.
Holloway said, ``There is no plan'' to fire employees at Langley.
``I think we're two years away from seeing any programs cut,'' he added. ``The emphasis now is on efficiency and less cost.''
As proof of Langley's willingness to match money with performance, Holloway cited a recent closure of one of Langley's smallest and least productive wind tunnels. Depending on an ongoing program review, more of the same may follow.
``I am optimistic for Langley,'' Holloway said. ``In a relative sense, we feel we've been very efficient. Even for us, we've got to make significant changes.''
He would not elaborate.
The Hampton facility is the oldest at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, having been founded in 1917 as the nation's first federally funded civilian aeronautics laboratory. Today, with a budget of close to $700 million, the center employs a little over 2,900 permanent and temporary civil servants, and some 2,100 independent contract workers. A wide variety of airplanes and spacecraft have been or are tested in its sprawling complex of close to 40 wind tunnels.
Compared to the severe systemic changes rocking the private sector, the proposed reductions at NASA appear modest. Cuts are limited to a few percentage points over each of the next four fiscal years. However, the reduction will accelerate to more than 10 percent in fiscal year 2000.
NASA's belt-tightening is part of a larger Clinton administration attempt to convince dubious Republican majorities in both houses of Congress that it is serious about holding the line on government spending. Goldin's announcement coincided with Clinton's release Monday of a $1.61 trillion budget for fiscal '96 that cuts or consolidates 500 government programs and projects $144 billion in savings over five years.
Goldin, who usually shuns the engineer's penchant for understatement, used characteristically colorful language in attacking NASA's traditional bureaucratic infrastructure. It's a setup that he has worked to dismantle since he was appointed director by then-President Bush in April 1992.
``We don't want a dead space agency with a bunch of bureaucrats writing memos to one another,'' Goldin said. ``We want to eliminate that. Space is not about people gathering in high bays working on paper.''
Goldin's remarks came on a day when the American shuttle Discovery maneuvered to within a few dozen feet of the Russian space station Mir, practicing for a docking of the shuttle Atlantis with Mir, planned for later this year. Goldin paused 20 minutes into his news conference to watch and listen to a live television broadcast of the feat.
``I just wanted to share that with you,'' Goldin told a national audience of print and broadcast journalists minutes later. ``Just think what it took to pull this mission off. That's an example of why the best and brightest work at NASA.'' ILLUSTRATION: THE LOCAL IMPACT
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