Um, hiiiii, NASA? Yeeeeah, you’re gonna have to go ahead and release that report.
From the Associated Press via MSNBC.com:
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - Anxious to avoid upsetting air travelers, NASA is withholding results from an unprecedented national survey of pilots that found safety problems like near collisions and runway interference occur far more frequently than the government previously recognized.
NASA gathered the information under an $8.5 million safety project, through telephone interviews with roughly 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years.
Let me make sure I have this straight. NASA spends $8.5 million in taxpayers’ money to determine whether we’re as safe as we think we are on commercial airlines. And then decides that while we’re perfectly capable of bankrolling the truth, we’re not capable of handling it?
Only the Bush government possesses this kind of naked, fuck-you-sideways audacity. Only the Bush government, who has spent the last seven years demonstrating an unprecedented disdain for any information or data that might in any way diminish their coffers or bring embarrassment to their benefactors, is capable of such stupifyingly brazen obfuscation. In an administration of new lows, this is a new low worth pondering.
Not only will they not tell us what the study says, they acknowledge (seemingly without shame or irony) that they won’t tell us:
Just last week, NASA ordered the contractor that conducted the survey to purge all related data from its computers. The Associated Press learned about the NASA results from one person familiar with the survey who spoke on condition of anonymity because this person was not authorized to discuss them.
A senior NASA official, associate administrator Thomas S. Luedtke, said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect airline profits. Luedtke acknowledged that the survey results "present a comprehensive picture of certain aspects of the U.S. commercial aviation industry."
You know, just to satisfy my own curiosity, I went to the NASA website and found that "NASA's mission is to pioneer the future in space exploration, scientific discovery, and aeronautics research."
That’s it. I mean, that's all there is. Funny how it says nothing about protecting public confidence in and profits of commercial airlines.
Fortunately, we can count on Congressional Democrats to demand accountability. Or, sort of ask for it. Or, not really ask for it, but imply that it would be nice, and you know, appreciated, if NASA were to, like, share.
"If the airlines aren't safe I want to know about it," said Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., chairman of the House Science and Technology investigations and oversight subcommittee. "I would rather not feel a false sense of security because they don't tell us."
Discussing NASA's decision not to release the survey data, the congressman said: "There is a faint odor about it all."
Gee, do you think??? Katie bar the fucking door, Miller’s on the case!
Here's where we are: NASA is now admittedly conspiring to deceive American citizens about the safety of air travel in the name of corporate profits.
In what Bizarro world is this not illegal, or at the very least tortious?
And why is Congress not fucking apoplectic?