Waste and duplication in NASA programs: The need to enhance U.S. space program efficiency

Abstract

The U.S. Government faces acute budgetary deficits and national debt problems in the Obama Administration's second term. These problems have been brought about by decades of unsustainable government spending affecting all federal agencies including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). An outgrowth of this fiscal profligacy is the presence of wasteful and duplicative programs within NASA that prevent this agency from achieving its space science and human spaceflight objectives. These programs occur due to mismanagement of these programs by NASA and from the creation of these programs by the U.S. Congress and congressional committees. This occurs because congressional appropriators tend to be more concerned with economically enhancing their states and districts and promoting their reelections instead of providing effectively targeted funding and oversight of their programs to ensure they meet national space policy goals and provide tangible value for taxpayers. This work will examine recent examples of wasteful and duplicative NASA programs and suggest ways to improve their utility.