White House Announces Bold Plan To Use NASA Know-How To Build Better Relations With Muslim Nations
By DAWN HYMAN
Published February 26, 2013
According to White House sources, as a prelude to President Obama’s trip to the Middle East and Israel he will announce a new “outreach” program to share space technology with Muslim nations. The purpose of the program will be to promote improved relations with Muslim countries.
The plan follows multiple comments made by current Administrator Charles Bolden during interviews earlier this year that the President mandated that Muslim outreach be a top NASA priority.
White House sources say that the program will include 5,000 scholarships for qualified high school graduates from select underrepresented Muslim countries to attend U.S. aeronautics and astrophysics university programs. It also will include rocket propulsion technology sharing that many critics in the U.S. and Israel say could be adapted for use in ballistic missiles.
“It would be patriarchal to expect that Muslims should be relegated to passengers on our spacecraft.”
One White House source said that missile technology is an essential part of the plan: “It would be patriarchal to expect that Muslims should be relegated to passengers on our spacecraft.” According to the source, any useful plan must include rocket technology because “you can’t get into space if you can’t get off the ground.”
The technology at issue includes both the rocket construction technology and the software to control the rocket’s combustion and flight path. U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R), ranking member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, was highly critical of the plan. “We have been trying to keep this technology out of the hands of these regimes for decades,” he said. “I cannot believe this administration would just give it away.”
During President Obama’s trip to Colorado, he took time to address criticism and preview the plan before his speech. “No longer can we presume that predominantly Muslim countries mean us harm,” he said. “The time is now to share what we have learned and bring our countries closer together.” When asked about national security concerns, the President bristled. “Space knows no bounds, and our cooperation to reach the stars should know no bounds,” he said.
