Dear Friends: here is the complete text of the message from Orbit which references an NSA over-ride --

2/24/01 6:23:56 PM Pacific Standard Time

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David E. Steitz
Headquarters, Washington, DC
February 21, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1730)
Rosemary Sullivant
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone: 818/354-0747)

RELEASE: 01-24

SPACE MAPPING MISSION OF ANTARCTICA ABORTED DUE TO NSA OVER-RIDE

In a brief announcment today, NASA and the JPL terminated all further study of Lake Vostok in S. Antarctica. In an apparent slip of confidentiality, spokeswoman Debra Shingteller alluded to "National Security Issues" allowing the NSA to assume full control of what had been an International effort to explore a huge, under-ice lake near the Russian Vostok research station.

Ms. Shingteller was immediately led away from the podium, and an aid responded to the many further questions with the same answer: "the project has been halted due to environmental issues", and that no further releases were pending. The large crowd of press corp. were left clamoring as the officials left the stage. Ms. Shingteller has not responded to repeated attempts at contact.

Comment: Clearly the Bush team was still attempting to get the wheels and levers of power under their control, when this event occurred. People in the press are interested in Antarctica not because it is so remote (in itself), or because they are paying attention to whatever odd things are going on at the pole, but because of "human interest stories" that they can hype and thus use to build ratings with core viewers -- i.e., women viewers, in the case of the cable news networks. It is also clear that NSA has way more power and authority than does NASA, which is another result of the eight years of Clinton's maladministration.