WASHINGTON
-- NASA Administrator Mike Griffin defended the U.S. space agency's embattled
inspector general Thursday, saying in an interview taped for C-SPAN's Newsmakers
that "management counseling" would be a sufficient response to what he
described as Robert Cobb's "overly harsh treatment of subordinates."
Three senior
Democratic lawmakers
called on President George Bush this week to fire Cobb after receiving a
1,000-page report from the Integrity Committee of the President's Council on
Integrity and Efficiency that found Cobb had been verbally abusive to employees
and too chummy with Griffin's predecessor to be an effective internal watchdog.
Griffin, in
his first public comments about Cobb since Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and two
senior Democrats in the House called for Cobb's dismissal, said he saw nothing
in the Integrity Committee's report that warranted Cobb's removal from office.
"The board
that investigated did find that Inspector General Cobb was, shall we say,
sometimes a bit rough on some of his employees and that's a managerial issue
which we will address," Griffin said. "But the authority of his office has not
been abused and his impartiality as an inspector general, at least to me, is
not in question."
Griffin
also said that he did not believe the president, who appointed Cobb, would fire
him.
"[I]t was
my recommendation that we stop well short of removing Inspector General Cobb
and I believe that the president has accepted that recommendation," Griffin
said.
Nelson and
the two House members, Reps. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and Brad Miller (D-N.C.),
said Tuesday that they were not satisfied with the response from NASA or the
White House and intended to move forward with hearings on Cobb's professional
conduct.
Griffin's
interview is slated for broadcast Sunday.
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