Apr 20 2007
Johnson Spaceflight Center Shooting
I know a lot of people at JSC and my prayers are out to them and I hope they will be safe. What I can tell you about our NASA security (and it won’t be a lot) is all of us with badges which allow us to drive onto base also have background checks and fingerprints done as part of getting those badges, etc. The problem is there is no way to check every vehicle that comes on base. Even random searches are problematic, but the fact is we trust the people like you trust your neighbors. The fact is we cannot protect every public space without losing our freedoms, and people need to realize this. When a person goes off there is no way to stop them, unless we really do enter into an Orwellian “big brother” life style.
Update: Ugh! The media is so ignorant. People cannot understand how you can get a gun on base and it is simple. Some areas have extra security like mission security, but they don’t check all backpacks or computer bags. Lou Dobbs and Geraldo (why is he chairing Gibson’s show) are just too stupid to listen too. You have no clue how WRONG the media gets things. Background checks are as good as you are going to get because even when you have gaurds, they have guns and if they go whacko – guess what.
Update: [Fox is not repeating the part I heard earlier about the man being fired] Well someone screwed up royally given the now breaking news. It seems the gunman was fired this morning from his company which works at JSC. Clearly someone did not confiscate his badge after he was told. Now it is not always possible to avoid these things. If he suspected he was might get fired he might have a gun in his car just in case. But this is management 101 – never allowed fired employees the opportunity for revenge. The NASA badge should have been the first thing handed over.
FOX is reporting that the gunman and a person MAY be dead.
I don’t think this is official.
Looks like it is official.
This is one of the few days that I spent time inside Building 30S, the Mission Control Center, located about 200 yards from Building 44. We heard the public announcement and via DVIS that Building 30S is in a lockdown. Around 4:30, once NASA determined that this incident is isolated to Building 44, they lifted the lockdowns at all buildings except Building 44 but they told people to take specific routes to exit the NASA campus. Those that parked their cars in the big parking lot adjacent to Building 44 are still in lockdown. Fortunately, I parked my car elsewhere and took a different route to exit the campus. On my way out through the gate, I noticed that NASA security guards were not letting people enter the campus. This whole site is fenced in.
NASA security guards no longer search each and every car not since 9/11. Now they do random searches, especially on weekends due to low traffic.
There are no metal detectors for each building so it’s easy for anyone to bring a gun into any of these buildings as concealed in their briefcases and backpacks.
I suspect that NASA and NASA subcontractors will change procedures after this.
Stuff like this is going to happen, there is no way to always stop it.
And the media really is stupid about a lot of things. I discovered that when I was farming and I would watch reports on farming, farm programs, animal husbandry, etc…I thought then, If these people are as uninformed about everything else as they are farming, then they are useless.
Hey Luker,
I did not know you worked at NASA! I heard one person was killed. It is terrible moment. Keep safe.
AJStrata
We were in Building 30S where the Mission Control Center is hosted. This is the building whose doors were locked down. Fran Crenshaw’s name is familiar but haven’t placed her yet. The other two – I do not know but we do know a few that works for Jacobs.
Jacobs is new to this area and NASA world but that’s no excuse. They won the SEAT contract from Lockheed-Martin about a year ago.
There is also the possibility he heard it from a co-worker before he was officially “notified”.