Walker Mentioned for Top Job at NASA

Staff And Wire Reports Former Lancaster County congressman Robert Walker said Tuesday he has not been contacted about the top job at NASA.

Walker’s name has surfaced in news reports speculating about possible successors to Sean O’Keefe, who resigned Monday as administrator of the space agency.

Walker, who lives in East Petersburg and represented part of the county during his 20 years in Congress, said through a spokesman he has not been contacted about the job.

“I am not seeking this position and I know nothing about them seeking me for it,” Walker said in a statement read by his assistant, Peter Baca. Baca said Walker is content in his position as chairman of Wexler & Walker, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm that specializes in lobbying for space, science and technology issues.

“He is extremely happy where he is at,” Baca said. “He has no knowledge of being sought for the position and no one has contacted him in regard to the position.”

After O’Keefe formally resigned Monday in a five-page handwritten letter to President Bush, the White House said it would move quickly to find a replacement, but declined to discuss potential nominees.

Both the Associated Press and Houston Chronicle have mentioned Walker, who has long had an interest in space issues, as a possible candidate to replace O’Keefe.

Walker once headed the House Science Committee and served on President Bush’s Moon-Mars commission.

In October, Walker received NASA’s Distinguished Public Service Medal, the highest honor awarded to private citizens whose accomplishments have contributed to NASA’s mission. He received NASA’s Distinguished Service Medal in 1996 while serving in Congress.

Others on Capitol Hill and in the aerospace industry said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, a former director of the Missile Defense Agency, is considered the front-runner for the position.

Also mentioned as possible nominees were former astronauts Ron Sega, Charles Bolden and Robert Crippen and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon P. “Pete” Worden, an astronomer and former adviser to the Senate space subcommittee. All have links to the military.

The search for a new leader comes at a pivotal time for the $16.2 billion space agency.

The nation’s shuttle fleet, grounded since the Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia accident that killed seven astronauts, could resume flights within six months. Any Bush nominee would need Senate approval before taking office.