spacetoday.net: O'Keefe declines board request to reassign shuttle personnel

Posted: Sat, Mar 1, 2003, 8:19 PM ET (0119 GMT)
STS-107 patch (NASA)

NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe informed the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) Friday that he will not honor a board request to reassign several shuttle managers who have been aiding the investigation. In a letter to CAIB chairman Harold Gehman, dated Friday and published on the CAIB's web site Saturday, O'Keefe said that reassigning the personnel would "be viewed as prejudging the facts". The CAIB had requested the reassignments in a letter to O'Keefe on February 25, saying that it would be "in the best interest" of the investigation if those individuals were relieved of work related to the investigation. The identities of those people were not revealed in either letter; speculation centered around shuttle program manager Ron Dittemore, although Spaceflight Now reported Friday that Dittemore was not on the list of officials. Instead, the board had asked for several other senior managers, including Linda Ham, head of NASA's mission management team; and Ralph Roe, manager of the shuttle vehicle engineering office. In O'Keefe's response to the CAIB he promised to establish new "interface mechanisms" with the CAIB, involving professionals outside of the shuttle program, as a way of addressing the CAIB's concerns.