Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
Members of a House Science Committee panel expressed support for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's imperiled Space Environment Center (SEC) at a hearing Oct. 30. Located in Boulder, Colo., the SEC monitors and forecasts space weather phenomena such as solar flares that can adversely affect spacecraft, aircraft, or ground-based electrical power and communications systems. The center is in danger of losing half its staff or possibly closing if proposed congressional spending cuts for fiscal year 2004 are signed into law (DAILY, Sept. 29).
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe defended the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program at a Senate hearing Oct. 29, saying NASA has made "absolutely no commitments" to build the vehicle but is engaged in "preparations" to build it if the nation's leaders decide such a program is needed.
Coming off its experience deploying imagery analysts to Iraq, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) now plans to develop a regular "cadre" of personnel that would stand ready to go into theater with U.S. military forces. The deployment of approximately 90 NIMA employees to Iraq at the height of the war was an "unprecedented" move for the agency, but one that proved very rewarding to the troops and the employees themselves, according to NIMA Director Lt. Gen. James Clapper (USAF, ret.)
