NASA Administrator Richard H Truly yesterday ordered an investigation of the agency's Freedom of Information Act procedures after a member of Congress charged that NASA had told workers how to avoid disclosing controversial information.
In a statement, Truly said he was "extremely concerned" about a document released by Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) that is reputed to be official NASA instructions on how to evade some provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
''NASA is strongly committed to full compliance with the law, and we repudiate the portions of this document that are inconsistent with our policy," Truly said.
He said he was countermanding the document and was circulating to all senior managers a letter to "remind them that NASA places the utmost value on openness and honesty government.
Truly also named a team of NASA executives to investigate the charges by Wolpe and said that, based on the investigation, "NASA management will take quick, appropriate and decisive action on this incident to demonstrate that NASA's FOIA policies are readily adhered to."
Wolpe on Thursday circulated a letter he sent to Truly in which NASA was accused of teaching employees to avoid disclosing information with such tactics as rewriting, documents and destroying them.
The Washington Times Mar. 92
A Michigan congressman has accused NASA of teaching workers how to avoid disclosing controversial information, including rewriting documents and destroying them.
Rep. Howard Wolpe (D-Mich.) said congressional investigators looking a program to develop the SP-100 nuclear space reactor, found a two-page set of instructions on how to deal with the Freedom of Information Act request.
"This NASA document instructs government employees to: 1, rewrite and even destroy documents 'to minimize adverse impact'; 2, mix up documents and camouflage handwriting so that the documents's significance would be 'less meaningful' and 3, take steps to 'enhance the utility' of various FOIA exemptions," Wolpe wrote to NASA Administrator Richard H. Truly.
The document bore no identification other than "director's office," but Wolpe furnished another paper which indicated that it was prepared by Lawrence Ross, director, director of NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland.
George Reese, a NASA lawyer, called the document "a misrepresentation." He said NASA's policy is consistent with the Freedom of Information Act and "NASA's obligation to disseminate information in accordance with the Space Act."
The SP-100 program seeks to develop a new generation of nuclear reactors to power space probes.
The Washington Post Mar. 92WIRE: USER: PRINTED: 04/03/92 21:03
SEQ SLUG WIRE CATALOG PRIORTY WORDS DATE TIME
28501 PM-AR--UFOConvention AP-RG LOCAL NEWS RUSH 575 04/03/92 12:04:24
PM-AR--UFO Convent1on,0650 (3106j0mo--nr010)
Eds: Note Missouri Interest.
By JULIE STEWART
Associated Press Writer
LITTLE ROCK (AP) - For years, Karla Turner thought a terrifying childhood memory was a dream.
But now, she said she believes creatures like the one she saw as a little girl have retwned to visit her several times.
Ms. Turner, 44, Is a guest speaker at this weekend's Ozark UFO Conference In Eureka Sqrinqs. Other lecturers will discuss unexplained animal mutilations, mysterious circles formed In crops in Britain and reported UFO activity In the United States and other
countries.
Ms. Turner said she is not sure whether the ''beings'' she reports seeing are from other planets. ''One thing I do believe: These things actually exist,'' Ms. Turner said In a telephone interview. The former college English teacher said other members of her family, including her husband, have encountered the insect-like creatures, which render them helpless and sometimes abduct them for hours at a time.
Ms. Turner, fearing possible harassment of her family, will say only that she lives in the "general Little Rock area." She also refused to provide her husband's first name or identify where he works.
Ms. Turner said her encounters were buried in her subconscious for decades. She said memories began flooding when she underwent psychological counseling for stress-related problems in the late 1980s. She said her earliest encounter was at age five or six. She said she found herself outdoors at night, looking up at "what looked like a glant grasshopper. And it was telling me It was my mother. And I screamed back, 'No, you're not!"' Her husband also began recalllng past encounters, she said.
"The nature of our experiences include sightings of UFOs, missing time episodes in which we have either had conscious, partially conscious or totally unconscious episodes with whatever these beings are," she said. "We didn't tell anybody, our closest friends or family, anything."
She began to do research and found reports of similar experiences, she said. "There seems to be a general pattern," she said. "People have abduction encounters throughout their lives. It doesn't seem to be a random thing, that they pick up this person at age 35."
The encounters often "cluster" in families, Ms. Turner said.
The first encounter usually comes in early childhood, she said,
followed by another at puberty and again in young adulthood. In
most cases, the creatures conduct some kind of physical
examination. Sometimes, sperm and ovum are taken, she said.
Ms. Turner said several types of creatures have been reported.
The most frequent reports, she said, involve smooth, gray, hairless
creatures about 3 1/2 feet tall, with thin bodies, no ears and
"extremely large black eyes.''
Others have reported encounters with creatures resembling either
insects or reptiles.
Large and small aircraft have been reported, she said. Most are
disc-shaped, but some are described as triangular, cigar-shaped, or
bright red-and-orange balls of fire.
The creatures can be "benevolent or evil,'' she said. Her
experiences have been fearful.
"I do not think what they are doing this with us is for our own
benefit,'' she said.
Some researchers theorize that the creatures are taking human
genetic material to further their own survival, she said.
According to the "salvati.on theory,'' the creatures are
gathering genetic samples to propagate the human race if Earth
become uninhabitable because of nuclear war or another ecological
disaster.
Ms. Turner hopes more people will come forward with similar
encounters, and believes conventions such as the one in Eureka
Springs provide them a sympathetic ear.
"We may get more answers when more people are able to talk
about his without fear,'' she said.
Ms. Turner has written a book about her family's experiences.
"Into the Fringe'' is scheduled to be published in November by the
Berkley Publishing Group in New York, according to Andrew Zack, her
editor at Berkley.
"I think she makes a good case and she certainly gives you a
lot of food for thought," Zack said.
AP-NY-04-03-92 1201EST