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JPL background check from the front line
“Profound silence” is how Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists Bob
Nelson described the response received from local and federal politicians
when contacted about “invasive” background checks.
Nelson is one of
28 JPL employees who brought a lawsuit against NASA/Caltech for what they
claim is a violation of constitutional rights.
Nelson spoke to members of the La Cañada Flintridge Democrat Club on
Sunday along with fellow JPL employee Susan Paradise.
In early
2007, NASA and Caltech informed employees that they would be required to
submit to a new type of background check in accordance to Homeland
Security Presidential Directive-12.
Nelson pointed out that only a
small percentage of employees at JPL work in high security areas, that
most partner in missions with other countries where information is freely
available.
Also, that the directive is not a law and that other
government agencies have not interpreted the directive with the strick
view that NASA administration has.
Nelson commented on how
difficult the lawsuit has been and how the battle continues. Before the
employees decided to bring the suit against NASA they contacted many
politicians.
“We realized this was not a legal battle but a
political one,” Nelson said.
They didn’t get the political response
they had hoped for at the beginning of their quest but as the days past
they got more support.
Congressman David Dreier threw in his
support and Adam Schiff has been very supportive, Nelson said. But they
are still political officials that have stayed away from the
subject.
The idea to bring a suit against NASA was not the first
thing that came to the employees’ minds, Nelson said. The first was to
question the JPL and Caltech managers and NASA Administrator Michael
Griffin when he visited the campus shortly after the background checks
were announced.
“When we asked about [Griffin] the checks he said
‘If you don’t like it I hope you like working somewhere else,” Nelson
said. “He was really our best recruiter.”
Nelson and 27 other JPL
employees decided to take NASA and Caltech to court.
It wasn’t
because they had anything to hide, Nelson added. They had all gone through
background checks in the past. It was the SF85 form that they were asked
to complete that concerned them.
The 11-page form required basic
information, as in every background check but with some additions
including open-ended questions that could lead to extensive investigation,
Nelson said.
“It could turn into a fishing expedition,” Nelson said
of the investigation into the employees’ sexual and medical
history.
His coworker Paradise reviewed with Nelson the history of
the lawsuit with the audience. Throughout the meeting, whispers of “Big
Brother is watching” could be heard. Paradise said she didn’t start out
thinking that way but the longer time passes the more she is
swayed.
Right now they will continue their fight. Attorney Keeny
said that a final decision in the case could take several months to a year
or more. That takes money. The employees are paying for the legal fees out
of their own pockets however they have been getting donations from fellow
scientists.
“I was at a seminar a while back and a grad student
came and handed me money,” Nelson said. “He said he didn’t have a lot but
thought their fight was his fight as well.”
Nelson said what they
really need are people to write letters to all the politicians in
California and throughout the country.
“Keep this out there in the
public and political debates,” he said.