NY Times/Bloomberg: Report Faults NASA on Equipment Losses

July 26, 2007
Report Faults NASA on Equipment Losses
By BLOOMBERG NEWS

NASA has lost $94 million in office equipment over the past decade,
looking the other way as employees give computers to spouses or claim
missing laptops are lost in space, according to a Congressional
report.

"These problems are deeply rooted in an agency culture that does not
demand accountability", the Government Accountability Office said in a
report released yesterday.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration noted the problem
five years ago in its own study. Instead of tightening controls, it
relaxed them, making $10,000 the minimum value for trackable items,
instead of $5,000, the report said.

The report recommended 10 steps, including disciplining negligent
employees and toughening oversight.

In one instance documented by the accountability office, an
unidentified worker explained the fate of a missing laptop, worth
$4,265:

"This computer, although assigned to me, was being used on board the
International Space Station. I was informed that it was tossed
overboard to be burned up in the atmosphere when it failed."

The employee was not disciplined.

In a written statement included in the report, NASA agreed with 8 of
the 10 suggestions.