NASA’s watchdog is rebuked

NASA’s top watchdog routinely tipped off department officials to internal investigations, and it quashed a report related to the Columbia shuttle explosion to avoid embarrassing the agency, investigators say.

A report by the Integrity Committee, a federal board that investigates inspectors general, found that Inspector General Robert Cobb “created an appearance of a lack of independence.” The report was completed Jan. 22 and made public this week by the House Committee on Science and Technology (online at science.house.gov; a link to the report is at the end of the April 3 press release in the “Press Room” section).

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin’s proposal -- to send Cobb to leadership training and to require that he meet regularly with department officials on how to improve -- is not enough, said Integrity Committee Chairman James H. Burrus Jr.

“All members of the committee believe that disciplinary action up to and including removal could be appropriate,” Burrus wrote to the White House official who received the report. The committee’s report also accused Cobb of creating an “abusive work environment.”

In responses to the committee’s report, Griffin said Cobb was being faulted for the mere appearance of a conflict of interest. Cobb has acknowledged he cultivated relationships in the department but said he never crossed the line.

“This has been a trying year for Mr. Cobb, and I have been impressed with his continued focus on his professional obligations,” Griffin wrote. He said the report “does not contain evidence of a lack of integrity.”

The report threatens to renew questions of conflicts of interest and cronyism in an administration accused of exerting undue political influence in the firing of U.S. attorneys.

Only President Bush can dismiss Cobb, who was selected by Bush in 2002. The White House has said it is satisfied with NASA’s plans to require leadership training for Cobb, who once was an advisor on ethics to then-White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales, now the attorney general. Democrats say they expect to take congressional action.