The Problem Stream: Providing Direction to a Directionless Agency

On 20 January 1989, George Bush was sworn in as the nation’s 41st president. Although space policy was not a pressing issue for the Bush administration during its first few months in office, work did begin relatively early to put a space policy team in place. This specifically took the form of establishing the National Space Council mandated by Congress. On 9 February, President Bush appeared before a joint session of Congress and delivered his first State of the Union address. In the oration, he proposed a $1.16 trillion “common sense” budget that would give attention to urgent priorities, provide investment in the future, attack the budget deficit, and require no new taxes. The space program was prominently placed in the speech. Unlike previous presidents, Bush made the space program a significant part of the government agenda from the beginning of his presidency. Bush stated efforts must be made to extend American leadership in technology, increase long-term investment, improve the educational system, and boost productivity. To facilitate meeting these goals, the new president stated, “I request funding for NASA and a strong space program, an increase of almost $2.4 billion over the current fiscal year. We must have a manned Space Station; a vigorous safe Space Shuttle program; and more commercial development in space. The space program should always go ‘full throttle up.’ And that’s not just our ambition; it’s our destiny….” Despite his strong request for an expanded space program, Bush did not specifically declare himself in favor of human exploration beyond Earth orbit.[101]

A week after his state of the union address, Bush received a congratulatory letter from Republican Senator Jake Garn of Utah. In April 1985, Garn flew aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery as the first public official to travel in space. A former Navy pilot and Brigadier General in the Utah Air National Guard, he served as a payload specialist on STS 51-D. Garn, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, applauded the president s emphasis on federal investments in science and technol­ogy as crucial to the nations economic vitality and future. Garn wrote, “your words on science, space, and technology promise the aggressive and ambitious stance that your administration will take in pursuing these needed investments for Americans future.” Despite his praise of Bush’s leadership, he enunciated the misgivings of the space community resulting from the failure of the administration to move quickly in appointing a leadership team for the space program. He lauded the proposed cre­ation of the National Space Council under the leadership of Vice President Quayle, but suggested that the organizations “membership and staff must be selected and mobilized quickly to make a difference in the current budget cycle.” He concluded by saying that strong and decisive leadership was needed to counteract the power of entrenched political interests that resist new budgetary initiatives.[102]

A few weeks later, President Bush responded to Senator Garn’s call to action regarding the national space policy agenda. On 1 March, press secretary Marlin Fitzwater announced in a press release the appointment of “Dr. Mark Albrecht as the Director of the staff of the National Space Council which is to be created by Executive Order.” The administrations first choice for the position, a State Depart­ment official with military space experience named Henry Cooper, had asked that his name be withdrawn after concerns were raised about his ties to former Senator John Tower.[103] Although Albrecht brought a wealth of Washington experience to his post, he was not well known within the civilian space community. “Albrecht was a typical Hill rat, a squat, bearded infighter with a Ph. D. from the RAND Corpora­tion who…knew next to nothing about NASA.”[104] His background was entirely within the national security policy arena. For the previous six years, he had served as National Security Advisor to Senator Pete Wilson of California. Prior to that, he had worked on the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) as a Senior Research Analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. In 1988, he was the chief drafter of the defense planks for the Republican Party platform—where he caught the attention of Vice President Bush. Dr. Albrechts background in the national security space program, with its preference for clean sheet planning processes and requirements-based pro­gram development, would be one of several factors that would eventually contribute to a dysfunctional relationship between the Space Council and NASA.

The appointment of a national security and weapons specialist heightened already existing concerns among the space community that White House policy would tilt toward military interests. John Pike from the Federation of American Scientists said, “I can’t see that Albrecht brings much to the table besides ‘Star Wars.’ I’m looking for a silver lining here and haven’t seen it yet.”[105] Reaction on Capitol Hill was more

muted. Congressional staffer Stephen Kohashi remembers that those. responsible for civilian space activities [weren’t] familiar with [Albrecht]. I [recall] learning that his space background was primarily in the military or intelligence world, and being somewhat concerned. [But] I don’t recall considering this appointment [to be] par­ticularly critical relative to the effectiveness of the council.”[106] Despite any potential misgivings from outside the administration, Albrecht clearly had the support of Vice President Quayle—whom he had periodically done work for as a Senate staffer. In his vice-presidential memoir Standing Firm, Quayle wrote that NASA at that time “was, to a great extent, still living off the glory it had earned in the 1960s, and I thought Mark Albrecht was just the sort of guy who could shake it up.” It also seemed that Democratic staffers would be willing to work with him. One top aide was quoted at the time as saying, “It’s not what Albrecht did before. It’s what he does in the future. The important thing is to make this work… to formulate a policy consensus and get some pragmatic policy decisions out of the White House.”[107] The selection of Albrecht, who would become one of the key policy entrepreneurs sup­porting human spaceflight beyond Earth orbit, was a major catalyst to assembling a dedicated staff committed to providing the space program with a new vision for the future. This path, however, would not be without obstacles. As one commentator pointed out, the biggest “challenge facing Albrecht… will be to negotiate peace and find common ground among the competing interests on the [Space Council] — Albrecht is very bright, very competent, but nothing can prepare you for that kind of work. It’s like war.”[108] It would remain to be seen whether this civil space policy neophyte would be able to control the various elements of the space community, especially NASA.[109]

On 9 March, Administrator Fletcher sent a letter to President Bush that would prove to be an important stepping-stone on the road to the announcement of SEI. The letter addressed the forthcoming 20th anniversary of the first human landing on the moon. Fletcher wrote the president that the occasion provided a unique opportunity to define the administrations commitment to the exploration of space. The administrator suggested that Bushs participation in an event planned at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum (to be attended by Apollo 11 astro­nauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins) would enhance the signif­icance of the anniversary. Fletcher suggested that, “Taken by itself, an anniversary of this sort tends to focus on past glories and a nostalgia for days long gone. Coupled with a message of leadership and strong direction for the future, it becomes an inte­gral part of the American space experience; it can reenergize the country by setting new challenges and new horizons in the historic context of earlier goals success­fully met….” Having received this letter, National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft wrote that the President “has made it clear that space policy and exploration would be a priority of his Administration. This would be a tangible demonstration of his commitment.” This letter from Fletcher got the White House thinking about the possibility of utilizing the anniversary, only four months away, as a platform for a major space policy speech.[110]

It was clear during the early months of the Bush administration that the president had not settled on Mars exploration as the penultimate goal of the American space program. On 16 March, while speaking at a Forum Club luncheon in Houston, he was asked to comment about his support for the Space Station and a human mis­sion to Mars by the end to the century. Bush replied, “On the Space Station, I am strongly for it. We have taken the steps, budgetwise, to go forward on that. I have not reached a conclusion on whether the next major mission should be a manned mission to Mars… [Wje’re asking the [newly reconstituted] Space Council… to come forward with its recommendations. So, no decision is made [regarding] what happens beyond the Space Station itself, and I will make that decision when I get their recommendation.” Once again, the president cautioned that although his Administration had requested a budget increase for NASA, constrained resources meant that he was not ready to support the immediate adoption of a human mission to Mars. This statement indicated that just four months before announcing a major new space initiative, neither President Bush nor his senior space policy advisors had committed to a costly new human spaceflight program.[111]'[112]

As the Bush administration was beginning to assemble its space policy team, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, released a report analyzing national space policy. Entitled A More Effective Civil Space Program, the study was significant because it had been co-chaired by Brent Scowcroft before his appointment as the new presidents national security advisor. The report suggested that while NASA’s charter was to help maintain Amer­ican leadership in science and technology, it was far from clear whether the agency was meeting that objective in the post-Apollo era. CSIS indicated that a combina­tion of factors, including a declining budget and a short-sited planning process, had held the space program back during the prior two decades—while the Soviets, Europeans, Japanese, and Chinese were all making significant strides in their space programs. The task force contended that to reverse this disturbing trend the civil space program should figure more prominently on the national agenda. To accom­plish this goal, CSIS recommended that the Bush administration and Congress “set solar system exploration by means of automated and piloted spacecraft as a long­term national objective. This should include an important ‘Humans to Mars’ com­ponent, with deliberate and orderly preparation.” The report advocated a gradually planned buildup of key technologies and skills, rather than an accelerated program that overextended current capabilities. Finally, CSIS proposed establishing a two – year study effort aimed at developing programmatic alternatives for implementing this long-term strategy. As Administrator Fletcher had done just weeks earlier, the report concluded that 20 July 1989 would be an auspicious date for announcing a new initiative because of its symbolic importance.[113]

By early spring, with momentum growing for a presidential announcement on the 20th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, Mark Albrecht broached the idea of a new human spaceflight initiative with Vice President Dan Quayle. He argued that the adoption of a long-term goal would provide focus to a directionless space program and a means to prioritize and streamline existing programs, espe – dally the Space Station. Quayle liked the idea. Although he had not been heavily engaged in space policy during his political career, the new vice president would become the single most important space policy entrepreneur within the Bush White House. Born in 1947, James Danforth Quayle was the grandson of Eugene Pul­liam, founder of an empire of conservative newspapers. Although he spent most of his childhood in Arizona, Quayles political roots were sowed in Indiana. After graduating from DePauw University and Indiana State University Law School in Indianapolis, he was elected to the U. S. House of Representatives at the age of 29- Four years later, he became the youngest person ever elected to the U. S. Senate from Indiana. During his Senate tenure, Quayle focused his legislative work in the areas of national defense, arms control, and labor policy. In August 1988, George Bush tapped Dan Quayle to be his running mate. Although this selection was widely criti­cized because it was felt that Quayle did not have enough experience to be president should something happen to Bush, these opinions had little impact on the ultimate outcome of the election. As vice president, Quayle became the first Chairperson of the National Space Council, which had been statutorily re-established the previous year by Congress. Quayle embraced this assignment, telling the media, “for the first time in a long time there will be a space advocate in the White House—and that will be me.” Within a short period, Quayle came to believe that the Space Councils primary objective was to fix a dysfunctional space agency. The vice president agreed with Mark Albrecht that the main rationale for adopting a new human spaceflight initiative was to restore NASA to prominence. His main concern, however, was achieving this renewal given the existing budgetary and political environment.[114]

Given his unease regarding the budgetary constraints, Quayle immediately scheduled a meeting with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Richard Darman to discuss announcing a new initiative. In his memoirs, Quayle stated, “despite his image as a budget cruncher and arm-twister… Dick Darman has his visionary side, and he was a cheerleader for a manned mission to Mars.” This became apparent at a meeting in early April attended by Quayle, Albrecht, Darman, and OMB Executive Associate Director Bob Grady. Darman was supportive, but cautioned that the current budget situation mandated that the administration could not serve up an Apollo-like crash program. As a result, three basic tenets emerged from this meeting. First, recognizing that there were interest groups in favor of both Moon and Mars exploration, President Bush would not come out in favor of one over the other. Second, any new initiative for human exploration of the Moon and/or Mars would be a long-term commitment—so there would not be any huge budgetary impact. Finally, this program would be utilized as the central organiz­ing principle for the entire civil space program—so that everything from the Space Station to space transportation to planetary programs would be structured around accomplishing this continuing objective.[115]

On 5 April, with Darman on board, Quayle raised the idea of announcing a robust exploration initiative with President Bush at their weekly lunch meeting. By the end of the discussion, the first of many on the topic that would occur over the coming months, President Bush gave the go-ahead to plan for a 20 July 1989 announcement. Quayle wrote in Standing Firm that the president wanted to use the anniversary “to make a major address on the space program, a speech that didn’t just look back toward former glory but ahead to bold new achievement.” Furthermore, he viewed this as an opportunity to challenge the long-held belief that only Demo­cratic presidents (e. g., Kennedy and Johnson) had visionary approaches to space. Finally, President Bush, who had been criticized for a lack of vision, viewed this as a chance to answer his detractors by putting the weight of the White House behind a bold human exploration program. The eventual placement of human exploration of Mars on the government agenda had its genesis in this meeting.[116]

Over the coming weeks, the White House began aggressively taking steps to finalize its core space policy team. The previous month, Administrator Fletcher had formally resigned as NASA Administrator. After receiving his resignation, the administration began working to fill the position. During this search, the name of a former astronaut rose to the top—Rear Admiral Richard Harrison Truly. Vice Presi­dent Quayle wrote in his memoirs, “Dick Truly was a friend of [White House Chief of Staff John] Sununu and became his candidate; I didn’t have a good candidate of my own, and so I went along with Truly’s selection.”[117] Truly joined NASA in 1969 as an astronaut. Prior to that, he spent nearly a decade serving as a naval aviator, test pilot, and member of the USAF Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. After serving as CAPCOM for the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) and Skylab mis­sions, Truly served on one of the astronaut crews that conducted the Space Shuttle Enterprise approach and landing test flights. He made two flights into space, the first in November 1981 as the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia and the second in

August 1983 as commander of the Space Shuttle Challenger—which was the first night launch and landing during the shuttle program. After this mission, he left NASA for several years to head the newly formed Naval Space Command. In 1986, he returned to NASA as Associate Administrator for Space Flight—he was widely credited with guiding the shuttle program back to operational status after the 1986 Challenger accident. Vice President Quayle wrote in Standing Firm, “as often hap­pens in Washington, Truly got the job by default: he didn’t have the sort of negatives that might make news and sink the nomination.” Mark Albrecht recalled that the decision to make Truly administrator was made “rapidly, without a great deal of seri­ous discussion or assessment.”[118] Over the subsequent three years, this hasty selection of a true NASA insider and devoted “Shuttle Hugger” would come back to haunt an administration that needed somebody heading the space agency who shared the Space Council s objectives. Although the White House thought it was completing a policy triumvirate (including Quayle and Albrecht) capable of transforming NASA, Truly saw his job as protecting the space agency from danger. As a result, it eventu­ally became clear that he did not share the Space Councils reform goals.[119]

On 12 April, President Bush officially introduced Admiral Truly as his nominee to head NASA at a ceremony in the White House Roosevelt Room—attended by key members of Congress. The president opened by saying, “this marks the first time in its distinguished history that NASA will be led by a hero of its own making, an astronaut who had been to space, a man who has uniquely experienced NASA’s tremendous teamwork and achievement.” Bush acknowledged that because Truly was still an active duty flag-rank officer with the Navy, he would have to attain a congressional waiver for his appointment—the National Aeronautics and Space Act (NAS Act) of 1958 prohibited military officers from heading the civilian space agency. The president then handed the podium over to the nominee, who thanked Bush for showing confidence in his ability to guide the space agency. In conclusion, Truly stated that he looked forward to working with Vice President Quayle and the National Space Council.[120]

The Washington Post and The New York Times ran articles the next day suggesting that news ofTruly’s nomination was met with widespread approval on Capitol Hill.

The Post article explained that Truly had initially expressed doubts regarding the post, because he was concerned that it would necessitate the forfeiture of his military pension. Despite some congressional wariness related to placing a military officer in charge of NASA, it was reported that his military status was not expected to be a problem. The newspaper further reported that Democratic Congressman Norman Mineta of California, an opponent of military influence in the space agency, was nevertheless supporting the appointment due to Trulys unmatched depth of experi­ence. House appropriation committee staffer Richard Malow remembered thinking Truly was a good choice. “Dick Truly always came across as being very honest and he was an outstanding head of the Shuttle office.”[121] Senate staffer Stephen Kohashi recalled feeling that Admiral Truly was a competent individual, with a significant technical background and a sincere excitement for the space program. “I…recall [feeling relieved] that somebody solid and steady was assuming the helm,” Kohashi said, “…although some [people], I suspect, would have preferred someone with a… more dynamic image.”[122] [123] [124] The only true criticisms of Truly were that he was “too much the technocrat to be the combination of diplomat and salesman that his new job requires… [and that he is] no fan of developing commercial space enter­prises.”39740

On 20 April, at a White House ceremony in the Old Executive Office Presi­dent Bush signed an Executive Order establishing the National Space Council.[125] [126] He opened his formal remarks by telling the attendees that he was fulfilling the promise he had made the previous year to create the legislatively mandated council. With Vice President Quayle serving as Chair, Bush stated his belief that, “the Space Council will bring coherence and continuity and commitment to our efforts to

explore, study, and develop space___ ” The president stated his belief that the space

program was essential to sparking the American imagination, which inspired young people to enter the fields of science, math, and engineering—keys to ensuring the nation’s competitiveness in the future. He concluded by saying he was signing the executive order with “one objective in mind: to keep America first in space…it’s only a matter of time before the world salutes the first men and women on their way outward into the solar system. All of us want them to be Americans.”42,43 With the Space Council officially created and a core set of policy entrepreneurs in place, the administration was organized to begin a concerted effort aimed at shaping an initiative for human exploration beyond Earth orbit.44