By Bill Hess
Herald/Review

SIERRA VISTA — The importance of veterans and the service they have done for the nation is well understood by Congress, Democratic U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said on the day set aside to honor those who have served in the nation’s defense in peace and war.

Like many who were speaking about Veterans Day 2009, the Arizona 8th Congressional District representative took time Wednesday to talk about the Fort Hood, Texas, shootings.

“In the face of this great tragedy, the Fort Hood community, the Army community and the brotherhood of American service members have once again shown how resilient a fighting force we have,” Giffords said.

At the same time on Tuesday when a memorial service took place for the 13 who died in Texas, another service was taking place at Fort Lewis, Wash., to honor the seven from that post killed in action in Afghanistan in one incident, the congresswoman said.

Congress members from both parties are keeping their promises of continuing support for the nation’s veterans, Giffords said.

There have been a number of bills introduced and passed that are now laws to ensure those who have served in the military and those who are serving in the armed forces today are taken care of, she said.

“But legislation is only part of the battle,” Giffords said. To loud applause, she said she is continuing to urge the Department of Veterans Affairs “to establish a much-needed Veterans Center here in Sierra Vista.”

Giffords is expected to be at the University of Arizona today to talk about a bill she introduced last week to make the post-9/11 GI bill better by fixing oversights in the original legislation that limited access to benefits earned by service members and their families.

In her Veterans Day speech in Sierra Vista, the congresswoman said she was joining with all Americans to express the nation’s deepest appreciation for the dedication of those who are currently serving in America’s armed forces and to those who have served in the past, the veterans.

It was President John F. Kennedy who said, “As we express our gratitude to veterans we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to  utter words, but to live by them,” the congresswoman noted.

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By U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

When our nation asked Raymond Federico to serve, he answered the call.

Raymond joined the U.S. Navy and served in Southeast Asia, seeing combat from the decks of troop transports and other ships. He manned a .50-caliber machine gun on boats patrolling the rivers of Vietnam.

Patriots such as Raymond are at the forefront of our minds as we mark Veterans' Day. But honoring the service of veterans like him must go beyond mere words. Deeds are required and Raymond is among the many veterans who know just how serious that requirement is.

After firing the big guns with no ear protection for almost four years, Raymond developed tinnitus and hearing loss and filed for a service-related disability. Earlier this year, Raymond was working for a Tucson automobile dealer, but lost his job and had trouble making his mortgage payments when the business closed.


Things became a little easier for Raymond and his wife when Congress passed the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act.

Like many bills concerning our veterans, this one had strong bipartisan support. It increased the annual compensation rate for disabled veterans and their dependent survivors by the same cost-of-living adjustment payable to Social Security recipients.

"It certainly helped so we didn't get behind in our bills," Raymond said.

On the battlefield, the military pledges to leave no soldier behind. As a nation, we must pledge that when service members such as Raymond return home, we leave no veteran behind.

To help fulfill this solemn commitment, I am proposing needed changes to the Post 9/11 GI Bill, which went into effect in August. This bill restores the promise of a full, four-year college education for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

These benefits will be available to 2.1 million veterans and to all children of fallen soldiers since 9/11. This is an excellent bill, but I want to make it better.

Some retired veterans eligible for education benefits are unlikely to use them, because they have degrees or went on to careers. I have proposed that eligible veterans who retired before Aug. 1, 2009 have the right to transfer those benefits to other family members.

I also am proposing that housing allowances under the bill be available to veterans who take classes online. And I am asking that veterans who received benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill also be eligible, under some circumstances, for benefits under the Post 9/11 GI Bill, up to a maximum total of 48 months of benefits.

This year Congress has passed numerous bills to improve the lives of the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Each bill will benefit our nation's heroes, past and present, and the military families who support them.

Among those bills was the Women Veterans Health Care Improvement Act, which will provide better healthcare services for the 1.8 million women veterans.

We also passed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act, which authorizes Congress to approve Veterans Affairs medical care appropriations one year in advance. This will help assure that veterans' medical care will be delivered quickly and will end a cycle of late payments by Congress to the VA.

Legislation, though, is only half the battle. This is why I am urging the Veterans Department to establish a much-needed Vet Center in Cochise County. And this is why I and other members of Congress successfully persuaded the VA to change a policy that required Southern Arizona veterans to travel to Phoenix to collect emergency education benefits.

As a member of the House Armed Services Committee who represents a district with two military installations and a large number of veterans, I know how important it is to keep our promises to the courageous men and women who served in our armed forces. I also know that I am far from alone.

Southern Arizonans, like most Americans, are deeply appreciative of the dedication of our service men and women and their families. We must continue keeping our commitments to them - with words and deeds.

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By U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

Wyatt Earp had been dead only three years when the Douglas Port of Entry was built in 1932. Herbert Hoover was president, George Hunt was governor and Arizona's entire population stood at a mere 435,000.

Our state, our border and our nation's security needs have changed dramatically over the last 77 years. Changes at the Douglas Port of Entry haven't been quite so far-reaching.

The port today is too small and completely outdated. It is on the front lines of our national security mission and is the second-largest of Arizona's eight commercial land ports - yet it has been 16 years since the federal government last undertook a major renovation of the port.

This is an intolerable situation that must be addressed. The federal government, working in cooperation with the government of Mexico, must make upgrading the port a higher priority.

The federal government's failure to make the necessary changes at the Douglas Port of Entry is highlighted by the sweeping upgrades taking place at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales. This project - costing an estimated $212 million - is intended to transform Mariposa into what Janet Napolitano, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, called "a flagship" port.

I welcome the upgrades to Mariposa. They are needed. But neglecting Douglas makes no sense and this is the very point I stressed in a Sept. 8 letter to Martha Johnson, the new administrator of the General Services Administration. I reminded Johnson that our ports of entry are crucial for both national security and economic growth. An obsolete port like Douglas represents a threat to both.

The economic importance of the Douglas Port of Entry is significant, to both Arizona and the nation. According to the latest statistics, 110 trucks pass through the port each weekday, carrying $3.5 million worth of goods between the United States and Mexico. They include copper, auto parts, cattle, machinery and many other products essential to our everyday lives.

Thousands of Arizonans owe their jobs to the international trade and commerce conducted at Douglas. But Douglas, of course, is not alone. Commercial traffic through Arizona's ports has grown by 17 percent - an increase of 55,000 trucks - between 2002 and 2007. Traffic is expected to triple over the next 15 to 20 years.

Unfortunately, the Douglas Port of Entry is ill-equipped to handle to this increased volume. The delays are unacceptably long and security must be strengthened to help stem the trafficking of drugs and people.

The problems with the Douglas Port of Entry were discussed recently at the Douglas Economic and Trade Forum. In an article in the Douglas Dispatch, Victor Gonzales, economic development director for the city, called the port "broken" and said it was unable to meet our 21st century needs.

That is simply unacceptable. With the downturn in our economy, our nation's businesses cannot afford delays at our borders. International trade and commerce are vital elements to bolstering our economy.

Improving the Douglas Port of Entry also will help strengthen border security. Ports in Arizona play a key role in controlling illegal drug trafficking. U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents seized a record 291 pounds of heroin at the state's six land ports in fiscal year 2008 - a 200 percent increase from 2007.

Just recently, the Douglas Dispatch reported that a 17-year-old boy was stopped at the Port of Entry with more than 500 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $840,000 in a hidden compartment of the truck he was driving.

Plans have been drawn up for a new Douglas Port of Entry. That new port would triple capacity, allowing 1,500 commercial trucks to pass daily. It would be west of the current port and have nine lanes for vehicle traffic. Commercial traffic would have two reserved lanes and two cargo inspection docks.

But the new port is scheduled for completion no sooner than the mid-2020s. We cannot wait that long. The expanded port is needed today, not in 15 years. By then it already will be outdated.

A successful expansion of the Douglas Port of Entry must also include the necessary infrastructure on the Agua Prieta side of the international border. As a co-chairperson of the U.S.-Mexico Interparlimentary Working Group, I work closely with members of the Mexican Congress on issues that impact both nations.

A port of entry large enough to meet the demands of our region's commercial and tourist traffic is just one of those issues. I will contact my counterparts in the Mexican government and ask for their commitment to the successful implementation of this bi-national project.

The Douglas Port of Entry was built to service a town of only 9,828 residents. In the ensuing 77 years, Douglas has grown by nearly 80 percent to almost 18,000 residents. International trade has grown even more rapidly and now is a driving force in our economy. Yet through the administrations of 13 presidents and 19 Arizona governors, the port remains trapped in time.

As I did with the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, I will continue fighting to secure needed funding for a new Douglas Port of Entry. The federal government has to realize that it must move quickly to bring the port into the 21st Century. This port, like Mariposa, is vital to the economy of Southeastern Arizona and it is vital to the security of the United States.

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Republic Editorial

If you want to be sure of reaching a destination, you need a map. It's the same with an ambitious goal like ramping up solar energy in America.

Last Thursday, the U.S. House approved a bill to create a "Solar Technology Roadmap" that would provide much-needed focus and resources.

A committee, including representatives of the solar-power industry, would lay out the research-and-development needs for the next 15 years. The roadmap would be updated and revised regularly. The bill would authorize funding for R&D and demonstration projects, ramping up from $350 million in fiscal 2011 to $550 million in 2015.

For Arizona, solar power is a double economic opportunity: developing a solar industry
 and diversifying our power sources with a clean source of electricity. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, a second-term Democrat who is a champion of solar power in southern Arizona, sponsored the bill, HR 3585.

Other countries have sped ahead of the United States in developing solar power, and China is making a major push. If we don't adopt better policies and support innovation, Giffords warns, America will go from importing foreign oil to importing solar panels.

This isn't an easy time to argue for spending more money. But the bill picked up bipartisan support for a reason.

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a Maryland Republican who describes himself as a fiscal conservative, a scientist and an engineer, argues that the bill would not use too much money. The funding level, he explains, "only begins to reverse 20 years of underinvestment in solar power."

The solar roadmap is modeled on a previous effort to develop semiconductors, which spurred two decades of technological advances. The bill still needs a sponsor in the Senate. It would be a real stretch for Sen. Jon Kyl or John McCain to back a bill that was opposed by Arizona's three Republicans in the House. But they should take a look.

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By KRISTA NORSWORTHY
Cronkite News Service
TEMPE — Solar power might seem futuristic, but thousands of panels supplying electricity from atop at Arizona State University buildings show the technology is ready to help the state add jobs and move toward energy independence, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., said Monday.

“When I’m flying in an airplane, I look down and see all these flat surfaces below me and think one day I’ll look down and be excited to see solar,” Giffords said.

Giffords visited two parking garage rooftops sporting solar panels set up under a 15-year agreement with CarbonFree Technology. The university can purchase electricity, which for now accounts for a fraction of its overall use, at a fixed rate.

CarbonFree Technology has installed about 9,000 solar panels at ASU. Giffords touted the installations as Arizona’s largest solar plant not owned by a utility.

“It’s important to talk to supporters and developers of solar projects like these ones at ASU, to understand where the industry has been and better understand how we take projects like these and replicate them around the state and country and build on them,” she said.

Giffords said the ASU project demonstrates solar energy’s potential to boost the economy.

“We could take all of these laid-off workers and convert them to power America,” she said.

Giffords, a member of the House of Science and Technology Committee, has authored legislation dubbed the Solar Technology Roadmap Act. The bill, which has won endorsement from a subcommittee, would require the U.S. Department of Energy to appoint a group of experts to create a long-term plan to guide solar energy research and commercial uses.

She said one of the biggest hurdles is the perception that solar energy is expensive, unreliable and only suitable for limited applications.

“A lot of my colleagues and people I talk to about solar energy say it’s not serious energy, but we see with institutions like this that show solar energy can contribute seriously to our state and country,” Giffords said.

Bonny Bentzin, ASU’s director of campus sustainability practices, said being able to install solar panels on structures is an advantage for the university.

“Before the panels were built this was just an average parking garage,” Bentzin said. “Now it’s a place with solar panels and a parking garage.”

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U.S. Rep. Giffords, Adm. Thad Allen encourage Bowie students at rally

By Carol Broeder & Ainslee S. Wittig/Arizona range news

Adm. Thad W. Allen and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Tucson, were in Bowie Friday celebrating Bowie schools' successes while encouraging students to persevere.

Allen, the commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard and the head of the Drug Interdiction Committee, is a Tucson native whose roots run deep in Cochise County.
"I don't know if this is a Bowie pride rally or an Allen family reunion," he said, drawing laughter from those gathered at Bruce E. Brown Gymnasium.

Bowie Unified School District, the Bowie Chamber of Commerce and the Bowie School Alumni Group sponsored Friday's event.

Allen said that while his parents grew up about 70 miles from each other, they never met until later in life in Tillamook, Ore.

His father, Bill, was born in Texas but grew up in Bowie, and his mother, Wilma, is from Bisbee.

The admiral's father, who had become a lumberjack in Oregon, walked into a restaurant where he noticed "a drunk was hassling a waitress." Bill tossed the drunk into the street, and 10 days later, the lumberjack and the waitress were married.

Allen also has great memories of Willcox, where "my Great-Uncle Peck owned the Texaco station," he told the Range News.

Wilma's mother is the sister of the late Lester "Peck" Bethel of Willcox.

"My roots are in the Golden West," Allen said in his speech. "Dad's family had a small ranch or farm south of here in the foothills of the Chiricahuas. My brother and I shot our first deer in the Chiricahuas."

Allen, who reports to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and President Barack Obama, said people envy the circles he travels in, which includes the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

"But every one of those people, including President Obama, came from somewhere," he told the Bowie audience.

"To be successful in life, you must be a lifelong learner," said Allen, adding that being from a small town "is no bar to anything you can achieve."

People of his parents' generation often did not finish high school, and "college was beyond the realm of expectation," he said. His father, Bill, lied about his age and joined the Coast Guard at 16.

Allen was one of the first in his family to graduate from college and he earned two master's degrees.

"When you learn, you expect your kids to learn," said Allen, adding that's why his children hold master's degrees or are in a graduate degree program.

Coming home

"This is where we come to renew our spirits and find out what's going on," Allen said about return visits to Bowie.

It is where family stories pass from generation to generation.

"We point and say, 'This is where the mule died,' " he gave as an example.

Allen's relatives who have passed on in the last 10 or 15 years asked to have their ashes spread in the Chiricahua foothills, he said.

His inspirational message to the Bowie students included a quote from the late tennis great Arthur Ashe.

"Do what you can with what you've got, where you're at," said Allen, adding that one day, someone from Bowie may be the keynote speaker after becoming a police officer, doctor, lawyer or performing another form of service to the community.

Allen then introduced Giffords, telling the story of how he first introduced himself to her as "one of your constituents."

"Even admirals are constituents," he said, drawing laughter from the audience. "You'll find no one in this state with greater dedication to her constituents than Congresswoman Giffords."

In her speech, Giffords pointed out the gymnasium floor, which was put in during the 1940s.

Nearly 70 years later, she said, "We've gone from cutting down trees to build a floor to powering the school with this tremendous renewable resource - the sun."

"Bill and Wilma, you need to be proud of your son," she said to Allen's parents, who were in attendance. "Of course, I know you are proud."

She said, "Folks from small towns work hard so that the next generation will do better than we did. That's a tribute to the legacy you've been a part of."

Giffords talked about her mother, who attended school in Willcox while her father worked for the railroad.

She also talked about her husband, Mark Kelly, who grew up in a small town in New Jersey.

He was not a good student in high school, so Kelly's father suggested he become a welder.

That's when he improved his grades and joined the U.S. Merchant Marine after graduation.

"Now he's going to be the last commander of a space shuttle," Giffords said.

"We are looking forward to seeing you kids down the road," she told the Bowie students. "We know that you're going to do great things and we just can't wait. That's a lot of responsibility on you, but we know you can handle it."

Bowie Schools Superintendent Patrick O'Donnell talked about "recent successes and positive changes," saying that enrollment is up by 17 percent from last years, and attendance is up at all grade levels this year. He added the school is now accredited through North Central Accreditation and plans to give students the option of Cochise College classes through interactive TV next year.

Nancy Jean Welker, president of the Bowie Chamber of Commerce, told the students, "This afternoon is for you - the very, very important people - our kids."

"This is the center of this town," she said. "The heartbeat of the town. Stay in school and stay in support of this school."

Bowie Alumnus Evelyn Spikes Lathram talked about the school's long history, adding that, and "many alumni have represented the Panthers well."

Allen's own parents, along with Bobbie Welker Blandin and her late husband, Doug Welker, coordinated the first Bowie School Reunion, with the support of several alumni, she said.

It was held on the school grounds in the summer of 1978 and has been held every five years since, Lathram told the audience.

"Our reunions are open to all classes and staff, even if you attended our school for only a few days, and the joke is, 'If you drove through town during a school day, you can come to our reunions,'" she said.

"But, seriously, I hope that every school child here today will attend our reunions after they graduate from Bowie High School."

Last year's reunion, the seventh, was attended by more than 100 alumni; the oldest was from the class of 1935 and the youngest from the class of 1991, she said.

Lathram talked about her own family's history with the Bowie School system.

"My association with Bowie Schools started many years before I walked into that first grade classroom," she said.

"My grandfather, A. R. Spikes, came to Bowie in 1916 as principal of schools. He was superintendent of schools when the high school was built in 1922, the swimming pool in 1936, and this gymnasium in 1940," Lathram said.

"His two sons, Jack, my father, and George, who is here today, attended all 12 grades here in Bowie, as did my two brothers and myself."

The process of bringing Allen and Giffords to Bowie together began about 18 months earlier when the Arizona Community Foundation was honoring Lathram's uncle, Dr. George Spikes of Douglas, for saving the hospital and for his endowment there, said Lathram.

"Ms. Giffords was one of the speakers and Nancy-Jean Welker asked her if she would like to come to Bowie some time," said Lathram, adding that Giffords said, "she had never been to the town and would like to visit."

A short time later, Lathram learned from Bill that Giffords and the admiral were very good friends.

"They both had graduated from high schools in Tucson and had roots in southern Arizona," she told the Range News.

Lathram asked Bill if he would ask his son to visit Bowie and bring Giffords along.

"The admiral was very enthusiastic about a visit and from there on it was just a matter of finding a date that worked for the both of them and didn't interfere with other events in Cochise County," Lathram said.

While in Bowie on Friday, Allen told Lathram that his office "moved heaven and earth" to make it work, as that was the only day Giffords could make the trip.

"Mr. O'Donnell was the primary contact after they agreed to the visit, and I know he had many, many phone calls and emails to finalize the arrangement," she said.

Earlier on Friday, Giffords hosted a briefing in Tucson with Allen on federal drug-fighting efforts.

Allen briefed community leaders and representatives from local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.

"Arizona is on the front lines of our nation's border security crisis," Giffords said in a statement issued Thursday.

"This briefing is an opportunity for all of us who are working to strengthen border security to hear directly from Admiral Allen and share with him our insights about the fight against the drug cartels."

Allen was in Southern Arizona to conduct an assessment of border security needs, said Communications Director C.J. Karamargin with Giffords' office.

His Interdiction Committee is made up of 13 federal agencies that advise the U.S. Interdiction Coordinator and the Office of National Drug Control Policy on operational and tactical adequacy, integration, and use of interdiction assets, he said.

Allen is the 23rd commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, the largest component of the Department of Homeland Security.

"He assumed the post in May 2006 after he was widely praised for directing the federal response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005," said Karamargin.

The briefing was held at the University of Arizona's National Center for Border Security and Immigration, which was recently asked by the U.S. Border Patrol to help measure the effectiveness of the agency's checkpoint on I-19, he said.

The center is a consortium of 14 institutions that is developing technologies, processes, and policies to protect the nation's borders, foster international trade, and enhance long-term understanding of immigration-related issues, said Karamargin.

Tucson Sector Border Patrol Chief Robert Gilbert and representatives from law enforcement agencies in Pima, Cochise, Santa Cruz and Pinal counties; police departments in Tucson, Oro Valley and Sahuarita; the Drug Enforcement Agency; Immigration and Customs Enforcement; U.S. Marshal; Arizona Governor's Office; and Arizona National Guard.
 

By Bill Hess
Herald/Review

Eight years ago, terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes in the United States, crashing two in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and when passengers rose up and tried to take over another aircraft it went down in a Pennsylvania field.

That day — Sept. 11, 2001 — started the United States on a path of countering worldwide groups of terrorism, taking the Americans to Afghanistan where the Taliban government was in cahoots with al-Qaida. Both became a target of America’s armed forces.

Those who died on America’s soil that day and the men and women of the nation’s military have to be remembered, especially considering that the United States and its allies are still in Afghanistan fighting a resurgent Taliban and its al-Qaida supporters, many of whom are in Pakistan, said Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona’s 8th Congressional District representative.

Back from a four-day trip to both countries with two other Democratic members of the House of Representatives, Giffords said the fighting in Afghanistan must continue.

“It deserves our full attention and can not become a forgotten war,” she told the Herald/Review Wednesday.

The initial defeat of the Taliban and their al-Qaida supporters has to be repeated now that the United States is once again focused on that nation and not as much as in Iraq.

“Those who perished on 9/11 and who have died in Afghanistan since then deserve nothing less,” Giffords said.

On the trip were two other members of the House Armed Services Committee, on which she serves. They were Adam Smith of Washington, chairman of the terrorism and other unconventional threats subcommittee, who led the delegation; and Bobby Bright of Alabama.

Meeting with top officials in both countries, the two-term congresswoman said she came away with the feeling both countries want to eliminate the problem sources, the Taliban and al-Qaida, within their borders.

But it will be difficult since the international boundary between the two is porously remote and rugged.

A high point of the trip for her was meeting 12 Afghan women members of parliament.

They were enthusiastic about seeing their nation become a democracy, the congresswoman said.

However, because of the male-dominated power in that nation it will take time for women to be recognized as individuals.

Afghanistan, and in many parts of Pakistan, women are treated as second-class citizens, and are denied educational rights and civil liberties, according to human right organizations in the world.

Pakistan has more of a history of suffrage for women, Giffords said.

There are many civil problems within Afghanistan that must be addressed to include corruption at all political levels and drug production, the congresswoman said.

The delegation got a briefing from U.S. Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration representatives who are involved, along with the U.S. and coalition forces military, in counternarcotic efforts, Giffords said.

While the picture is improving it is still bleak, she said.

Although poppy cultivation is down 22 percent and production has been reduced 10 percent Afghanistan is still the world’s top conduit for opium, Giffords said.

The problem is exacerbated by the fact that the Taliban has always used poppy production as a financial source, revenue to keep them in power, and it has become a fairly large cash product for farmers instead of growing food, Giffords said.

In the past, Afghanistan was able to produce sufficient food for all its population, as well as export agricultural products, according to many global reports.

Gaining the trust of Afghans, who although they are tribal do have a national identity, is important, Giffords said, noting for centuries the people in that area have fought every interloper who has tried to rule them and most times they were successful.

Historically Afghanistan had other names such as Bactcia in centuries past and throughout its history it has been known as a cemetery of invaders, defeating Persian to ancient powers in India to imperial Russia and Great Britain, and in the most recent past, the forces of the Soviet Union.

But, Giffords said she sees a desire of many Afghans to govern themselves and although fearful of the Taliban again they do not like them, she said, adding Afghans see al-Qaida people as foreigners.

The current U.S. and coalition commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, is seeking a way to forge an opposition against the Taliban and al-Qaida, Giffords s aid.

There is no denying he will seek additional troops but that will have to gain the approval of President Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, she said.

A potential block to additional forces are rank and file Democrats and some of that party who are members of Congress.

On Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said there’s little support in the country and Congress for sending more troops to Afghanistan.

However, Giffords said from what she is hearing from constituents in her district, both Democrats and Republicans “no one is asking me to get out of Afghanistan,” adding what was started after 9/11 has to be finished.

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By KENNETH CHANG
Published: August 24, 2009

Forty years after it first landed men on the Moon, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration has little chance of repeating that accomplishment by the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11.
 
Maybe not even by the 60th.

Five years after NASA was given a goal of returning to the Moon by 2020, the agency is arriving at an uncomfortable realization — that the American human spaceflight program might not accomplish anything new anytime soon.

“Unless the president is willing to step up and take a bold step like President Kennedy did, the manned spaceflight program is going to go in the ditch,” said Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida.

NASA’s current plan is to retire the space shuttles by September of next year after completing construction of the International Space Station, then rely on Russian rockets until a next-generation rocket, the Ares I, is ready in March 2015. The agencywould then retire and d ispose of the space station in 2016 and use the freed-up money to develop the heavy-lift Ares V rocket, a lunar lander and the technology for building a Moon settlement.

That plan grew out of the “vision for space exploration” that President George W. Bush announced in January 2004, a year after the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts. But in his budget requests, President Bush never asked for as much money as the Moon vision called for, and Congress, despite bipartisan expressions of support for the program, never added the money. President Obama’s budget request for the next fiscal year, which starts in October, outlined further cuts in 2011 and beyond.

In the last couple of months, a blue-ribbon panel convened by the Obama administration reached two points of broad consensus. One was that it made little sense to spend 10 years building the space station and then throw it away after only 5 years of operation. The second was at that at present financing levels, about $100 billion for human spaceflight in the decade from 2010 to 2020, the current program was, in the panel’s words, “not executable.”

In fact, NASA might not reach the Moon’s surface even by 2030, the panel concluded. Extending the life of the space station diverted even more money from the Moon efforts. Meeting the current goal ofgetting back to the Moon by 2020 might require an additional $50 billion.

No alternative plan fits the budget, either, the panel said. “Our view is that it will be difficult with the current budget to do anything that’s terribly inspiring in the human spaceflight area,” Norman Augustine, a former chief executive of Lockheed Martin and the panel’s chairman, said during its last public meeting on Aug. 12.

Now almost everything about NASA’s human spaceflight endeavors is again in question — the rockets, the budget, the schedule, the destination — and another overhaul could follow.

The changes could be radical: scuttling the Ares I rocket that NASA has spent $3 billion developing over the past four years and turning some or all of the space transportation business to private companies. Yet the review has attracted little attention beyond space enthusiasts and politicians with perhaps more parochial concerns — thousands of jobs in the electoral tipping point of Florida, for instance.

“I think that a lot of people care about space a little bit,” said Bob Werb, chairman of the Space Frontier Foundation, an organization that advocates the settlement of space. “But it’s only a key issue for a small percentage of the population. It’s been stated that the support for space is a mile wide and an inch deep, and there’s a lot of truth to that.”

A Web site set up for the panel received only 1,500 comments as of the end of July. The question, “What do you find most compelling about NASA’s human space flight activities and why?” generated just 147 responses.

“The American people have no idea what’s going on,” said Representative Gabrielle Giffords, Democrat of Arizona and chairwoman of the House subcommittee on space and aeronautics. “The average American does not know the shuttle will go away at the end of 2010.”

So far, getting out of the human spaceflight business entirely does not appear to be under consideration.

As a presidential candidate last year, Mr. Obama said he supported the goal of returning to the Moon by 2020. Since becoming president, he has repeatedly said he wants NASA to be inspiring, but not what he thinks an inspiring mission would be.

With the arrival of the panel’s final report, now expected in mid-September, Mr. Obama will have to make some key decisions and describe his vision for NASA.

The first decision is a stark one: whether to increase the money for the human space program to at least $130 billion over the next decade, the level the panel said would be needed, or to pull back the grander ambitions and keep astronauts to low-Earth orbit for the next couple of decades.

“That is not a choice the White House wanted,” Ms. Giffords said.

As requested, the panel will offer several options for the administration to consider, not one particular recommendation, and all of the options include compromises like bypassing landing on the Moon and focusing on long-duration space flights, at least initially. That would save the cost of developing a lunar lander and habitat, but Ms. Giffords, for one, said she did not find that plan exciting and doubted that her constituents would either.

In addition to deciding where to go, the administration has to decide how to get there. The simplest option would be to continue the current program, but at a slower pace to fit the available financing, reaching the Moon by about 2025.

Or Mr. Obama could decide that now is the moment to kick-start the nascent commercial space business. NASA is already counting on private companies to bring up cargo to the space station after the retirement of the shuttles, but another possibility might be canceling the Ares I and turning over all transportation to and from low-Earth orbit to private enterprise.

But it is also unclear whether Congress would go along with wholesale changes. Ms. Giffords said she still supported NASA’s current program and was reluctant to throw away its work. A test firing of the first stage of an Ares I engine will take place this week in Utah, and a flight test of a prototype is scheduled later in the year.

“It will cost more money,” she said. “It will take more time if we decide to shift gears and use another vehicle.”

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