NPOESS Oversight :: May 15, 2006

Committee Democrats Seek Ouster of NOAA Leadership

After testimony from the Department of Commerce Inspector General at a hearing before the Science Committee on May 11, Democratic Members of the Science Committee wrote the President to recommend the dismissal of both Conrad Lautenbacher, Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Deputy Administrator, John Kelly. The letter came in reaction to the Inspector General's finding that despite ample warning from the program office managing the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), neither Lautenbacher or Kelly took action to regain control as costs mounted and delivery of the next-generation weather satellites slipped to the point where the United States might find itself without the ability to gather the weather data vital to accurate three- to seven-day weather forecasts.

"The consequences of NOAA's failed leadership will affect every sector of our nation's economy and the daily lives of all Americans. This is not the way we spend taxpayer dollars, nor how we achieve our goals," stated Rep. David Wu (D-OR), Ranking Democrat for the Subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards. Wu signed the letter with Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN), the Science Committee's Ranking Democrat.

The NPOESS satellites are intended to replace existing NOAA and Department of Defense (DOD) weather satellite systems. Passing above the Earth from pole to pole, these satellites gather data on what's happening in the atmosphere. With that data, NOAA computers can give a fairly accurate prediction of what weather to expect in the next three to sseven days. The increasing capability of satellite instruments in the past forty years has improved the accuracy of predictions to the point where they are used in industries like agriculture, construction, transportation and tourism. According to testimony from the former Executive Director of the American Meteorological Society in 2003, these forecasts now influence some $2-4 trillion in global economic activity. With the improved capability of the instruments developed for NPOESS, NOAA expected to make seven-day forecasting as accurate as its three-day forecasts are today.

At the direction of the Committee, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has been studying the NPOESS program for almost five years. GAO's reports and testimony on the deteriorating budget situation and problems in developing the satellite sensors led the Committee to ask for montly program reports and other documents last year. Committee staff met repeatedly with program managers, and Members met with Admiral Lautenbacher, to express concern about the problems detailed in those documents. NOAA officials stated that the situation was under control. Yet at the end of 2005, the NPOESS program was reported to the Secretary of Defenses as having breached the cost thresholds set out in the 1982 Defense Authorization Act, triggering a review that may lead to DOD withdrawl from the program. That would leave NOAA in a critical situation, with the threat that there would be no satellites to replace those now in orbit as they came to the end of their expected lifetime.

Despite the clear indications in the program reports, the Inspector General testified that Administrator Lautenbacher and Deputy Administrator Kelly did not act to deal with the threat facing NOAA. The NPOESS Executive Committee, consisting of the heads of the three agencies participating in the program (NOAA, DOD and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration), met only twice as the situation deteriorated. According to DOD's Selected Acquisition Report on the NPOESS program issued last December, the NPOESS program originally expected to cost $6.8 billion is now estimated to require $13.8 billion to complete. "If were to have any hope of stopping this train wreck, NOAA must have new leadership the sooner, the better," concluded Rep. Gordon.

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Committee Rule 3(a)(2)

Legislative jurisdiction and general and special oversight and investigative authority on all matters relating to competitiveness, technology, and environmental research, development, and demonstration including:

• technical standards and standardization of measurement;

• the Technology Administration of the Department of Commerce;

• the National Institute of Standards and Technology;

• the National Technical Information Service;

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• Small Business Innovation Research and Technology Transfer; and

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