Some members of the US Senate are turning to some well-known people to assist them on space issues. The Houston Chronicle reported Sunday that sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has hired Neal Lane, former NSF director and White House science advisor, to advise her on space issues. Lane is currently with Rice University, with positions in both the space physics and astronomy department and the James A. Baker III Institute of Public Policy. Lane testified before the Senate Commerce Committee (of which Hutchison is a member) last week, and during the hearing Hutchison acknowledged the assistance he had provided her, but there was no sign of any former relationship between the two. (It also raises the question of whether Congressional aides, regardless of their pedigree, should be testifying before committees without full disclosure of any links with committee members.)
In addition to Hutchison, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), chairman of the space subcommittee of the Commerce Committee, plans to hire Air Force Brig. General Simon “Pete” Worden in the very near future. Worden is retiring (and may have already retired) from the Air Force; he had most recently served as director of the Air Force’s development and transformation office at the Space and Missile Systems Center in LA. Worden has a PhD in astronomy and has been an advocate of “planetary defense”, notably endorsing programs to look for and characterize near Earth objects that could pose a risk to the Earth.
