THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020494
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES SCHULTZ, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Long : 128 lines
A major reorganization at NASA's Langley Research Center could cost hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jobs if its administrator accepts the recommendations of a confidential NASA report.
The six-page memo, prepared in Washington and obtained this week, urges that all Langley programs having to do with space or space technology - accounting for about 30 percent of the center's research - be moved to other NASA centers around the country.
The Hampton facility also stands to lose nearly all of its research aircraft, including a recently acquired $24 million Boeing 757, to a sister facility in California.
The issuance of the memo comes as NASA faces up to government-wide downsizing and severe budget pressures. The agency is pressing employees to accept a buyout offer by the end of March to avoid possible layoffs later.
On Tuesday, Langley conducted a center-wide Reduction In Force seminar, to counsel employees on procedures in case of large-scale layoffs and to offer advice on job outplacement. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin also went on closed-circuit NASA television, virtually begging the agency's civil servants to sign up for the agency buyout worth up to $25,000.
``My biggest concern is that you'll come to me later, wishing you'd taken the buyout,'' Goldin said. ``You'll say you didn't know how serious things were. . . . I want you to know now just how serious things are.''
Langley employs about 2,850 full-time, permanent civil service workers and 2,330 independent contractors.
The center's budget is roughly $700 million.
Langley's deputy director, H. Lee Beach Jr., said the center is preparing for a minimum 16 percent reduction in staff, equal to what is expected throughout the federal government. NASA Langley officials have also prepared a worst-case scenario that estimates the impact of a 40 percent staff reduction.
NASA Langley officials are considering closing some of the center's 40-plus wind tunnels. The wind-tunnel complex is valued at $2 billion.
Beach cautioned that both the Langley study and the Washington memo are preliminary.
``The so-called white paper is an idea generator, not a directive. It's intended to stimulate thought,'' Beach said. ``If all those things happened, obviously there would be major impact and major changes. We are looking hard at these ideas, but it's not correct to say all these things will be implemented.''
The white paper makes clear that for the first time since its creation in 1958, and like its counterparts in the military, NASA is preparing a massive realignment of hundreds of aeronautics and space programs at a dozen major facilities including Langley.
``. . . Based on today's environment, the luxury, and perhaps the wisdom, of overlapping roles at the Field Centers is no longer an option,'' conclude the report's authors, a group of senior managers at NASA headquarters. ``Streamlining of functions is essential. . . ''
Goldin said Tuesday that the agency faces a cut of at least $5 billion over five years in a $14 billion annual budget that has already been substantially pared. Congress, he added, may erode the allocation even more drastically as budget negotiations heat up in the coming months.
``Make no mistake. Big changes are ahead,'' Goldin said. ``. . . The centers will be significantly smaller. . . . There will be pain. There will be job loss.''
That loss at Langley would start no sooner than June, the earliest that the complicated RIF process could begin. It could take 18 months to complete. Those losing their jobs would receive 60 days' notice.
Ironically, the talk of dramatic downsizing comes as NASA Langley and other Peninsula institutions and businesses prepare for that area's first-ever trade show extolling home-grown technology. The event, known as EXPOTECH, is scheduled for early April and coincides with Langley's Technology Opportunities Showcase, a display of market-ready devices and procedures developed by center scientists and engineers.
Should Langley let go great numbers of highly educated and skilled technicians, engineers and scientists, the Hampton Roads economy would be hard pressed to absorb the influx, local officials said.
``It would be tough, really difficult,'' said Stephen S. Cooper, executive director of the Peninsula Advanced Technology Center, the chief EXPOTECH sponsor. ``Whenever you have the magnitude of the potential cuts we hear flying around, that's going to hurt in the short term. Downsizing is happening everywhere. It's something that all of us have to make the best of.''
The uncertainty about the timing and magnitude of the cuts could be a further blow to already demoralized researchers.
``Generally, people are cynical. Morale is not high,'' said William H. Rogers, a contract scientist and psychologist at Langley who studies human-computer interaction in airplane cockpits.
``Shellshocked is a good way to describe it.''
It's likely that Langley, two years shy of its 80th birthday, will experience the greatest upheaval since World War II, when a massive researcher infusion swelled its employee rolls from a few hundred to several thousand.
``Langley is one of the major research and development centers in this country,'' Cooper said. ``Development of new technology is one of the strengths in this country and keeps us on the leading edge. You've got to keep new technology in the pipeline. If you diminish the federal government's research and development - that's like eating your seed corn.'' ILLUSTRATION: Langley officials are looking at closing some of the center's
40-plus wind tunnels, and are preparing preparing for a staff cut of
at least 16 percent.
AIRPLANES
Nearly all the research aircraft could be relocated, including a
recently acquired $24 million Boeing 757.
EMPLOYEES
A staff cut of at least 16 percent is likely. Under the worst-case
scenario, the cut could be 40 percent. Employment now is about
5,200.
AFFECTED PROGRAMS
Langley's space-related programs that could be transferred or
canceled:
Atmospheric studies of Earth's ozone layer; of cloud formation
affecting global climate; of burning of vegetation, crops and
grasslands that could contribute to ``greenhouse'' planetary
warming; of large-scale atmospheric patterns that affect everything
from weather to the transport of pollutants.
Satellites, satellite-based lasers and space-based remote
sensors.
Advanced space transportation and launch systems.
Advanced materials development.
Research related to NASA's proposed space station.
Experiments designed to fly on future space shuttle missions.
by CNB