Pentagon Plans to Stand Up Space Development Agency Under Mike Griffin Within 2 Months
Mike Griffin
Inside Defense reports the Pentagon plans to stand up a new Space Development Agency within the next two months.
The Pentagon plans to establish a new Space Development Agency under the authority of Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin by the end of March, according to a new memo from acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan. The Jan. 19 memo, obtained by Inside Defense , directs Griffin to develop a plan to create the new agency. The plan is due March 1 and the intent is to stand up the agency no later than March 29.
The agency’s purpose is to revitalize the Defense Department’s space systems by shortening research and development time and cutting through red tape. Critics have questioned whether adding a new agency to the department’s bureaucracy would accomplish these goals.
Griffin previously served as administrator of NASA under President George W. Bush.
10 responses to “Pentagon Plans to Stand Up Space Development Agency Under Mike Griffin Within 2 Months”
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Hi Mike, LET’S TRY THE CORN DOG ONE MORE TIME !
“Let’s do the Corn Dog Again!” Why am I flashing on the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
Seriously, though, if the new SDA operates like DARPA, it should be able to do what is intended for it – in particular, get a lot more entrepreneurial start-ups involved in defense-related space work. From there, maybe some will develop a hankering to get into other aspects of defense systems development and give the Three Dinosaurs a run for their money.
Mike Griffin likes the dinosaurs, though. His definition of advanced is doing Apollo over again…just maybe with touchscreen displays and a new paint job.
Even a mythological creature like a Griffin can learn from experience. It is quite possible that this will not be another rendition of the Constellation Dance. There is also the point that while the head of SDA will be supervised by Griffin, this will mean that *if* Griffin learned from the past, his subordinate will have a chance to do it right. Will he? None of us know, till it is tried.
He actively fought every opportunity to learn when made admin. He gave NASA at least one lost decade, if not more due to inertia.
Hi Mike, explain again where did Orion’s 4 astronaut requirement come from ?
I’m optimistic that Mike G.has actually learned something since his days as NASA Administrator. NewSpace was in its infancy back then. But it had grown enough that Griffin was a COTS backer by the time he left office. Now, of course, NewSpace is close to being the tail that wags the entire space dog.
There’s also the matter that Griffin was in his mid-50’s when he became NASA Administrator. He had significant incentive to keep the dinosaurs happy back in the day if he expected to have a meaningful career after his NASA Administrator stint, especially as there was, as of then, no real alternative to said dinosaurs. Now there is very much a dinosaur alternative, Griffin is nearly 70, and he’s not looking toward a next job when his current one concludes, he’s looking to cement a new legacy in place of his old one. These days, I suspect his mindset is rather like that of retiring Royal Navy Admirals who, at least during the days of sail, were allowed to single out three junior officers of their choice for promotion “for the good of the Service” without regard to age, seniority, “station” at birth or favor at court.
He was not just a COTS backer, as much as the one that convinced W and the GOP to back COTS.
Without Griffin and then Obama, both COTS and commercial HSF would be dead now.
Shuttle derived heavy lift folks were always on the outside looking in what with X-33 VentureStar and ROTON. He was a friend and I thank him for that.
It was Dan Goldin and O’Grief I despised
careful there.
While griffin really screwed up with Constellation and this his backing of SLS,
he is also the one that pushed COTs and got SX going with very low cost entry.
COTS existed way before Griffin came in. Look up Alternate Access to Station program