CLINTON RE-DUX

Back in the late 90s, Pres. Clinton was accused by wingnuts of letting China have advanced missile and satellite technology when in fact the culprits were two American private sector companies, Hughes and Boeing. Now it seems they are gearing up for a similar attack on Pres. Obama:

House Chairmen Say NASA May Have Released DOD Secrets To China
By Frank Morring, Jr. morring@aviationweek.com
February 08, 2013
Aviation Week

The Republican chairmen of the two House committees with NASA oversight responsibility have charged publicly that senior leadership at the space agency may have been involved in the leak of classified information to China and other nations, and that a federal criminal probe into the charges has been dropped under “political pressure.”

Forbes picked up the story 2 days later and now FOX News wants to mainstream this nothingburger and as usual has neglected to mention a very important aspect of this situation:

GOP Chairmen Go After Pete Worden
By Frank Morring, Jr.
Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology
February 18, 2013

The official in question, Ames Research Center Director Simon P. “Pete” Worden, vehemently denies he has been lax in protecting technology covered by International Trade in Armaments Regulations (ITAR), and says he has never been approached by federal law enforcement officials about the matter.

Among the technologies allegedly leaked at Ames are designs for high-performance rocket engines, fuel and oxidizer tanks from an “ASAT” (anti-satellite weapon), guidance and terrain-mapping systems from the Tomahawk cruise missile and a radar altimeter from the F-35, an Ames whistleblower tells Aviation Week, requesting anonymity on advice of counsel.

However, Worden says all of the technology used in the Ladee spacecraft is “100% commercial” and no defense technology “to the best of my knowledge” was used on the robotic lunar lander prototype, a “pretty simple device” which was subsequently transferred to the Marshall Space Flight Center. The non-U.S. staffers mentioned in the whistleblower document no longer work at Ames.