Yet Another Confused Security Policy

New Media Security Policy at NASA Headquarters: More Confusion, Less Security, SpaceRef

"NASA issued a press release yesterday, which spelled out its latest security regulations as they apply to the news media. As is often typical of the folks at NASA headquarters, no one apparently expended much brainpower in thinking this through in terms of the logic of the change in policy - and ramifications thereof. Moreover, no one (apparently) bothered to check and see if there was any consistency in how people were already being treated in terms of identifying them and tracking their activities while inside NASA Headquarters - and how these new rules meshed with those already in place.

The net result is an uneven policy with regard to public access to NASA Headquarters whereby news media have to undergo a full FBI background check, and be escorted wherever they go, yet people attending advisory committee meetings simply walk in off the street, show a photo ID, get a visitor's badge and go wherever they wish to go."