NASA’s annual audit is not only not as great as NASA claims, it illustrates how the poison of DEI permeates the agency
Not everything is as great as NASA claims
Yesterday NASA issued a press release proudly announcing that its annual independent audit of NASA’s finances concluded “for the 14th consecutive year … an unmodified, or ‘clean,’ opinion [of] its fiscal year 2024 financial statements.”
The rating is the best possible audit opinion, certifying that NASA’s financial statements conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for federal agencies and accurately present the agency’s financial position. The audit opinion reaffirms the agency’s commitment to transparency in the use of American taxpayers’ dollars.
In reading the actual financial statements and auditor’s report (available here [pdf]), I found however that all is not “clean”, as NASA claims. Two issues of concern — one financial and the other political — are well buried in the report and should be quickly dealt with by the upcoming Trump administration.
Sloppy bookkeeping
First, the independent auditor, Ernst & Young, found that NASA’s internal control system designed to track spending was not quite up to par. From pages 90-91 of the report:
During our tests of year-end financial statement amounts included in the draft agency financial report, we identified an unusual increase in the accounts payable balance when compared to the prior year amount. Upon investigation it was determined that a routine accrual for contract costs was posted to the financial management system in an amount that misstated the accounts payable line item by $254 million.
During our testing, we identified multiple controls that did not operate as designed and failed to prevent and/or detect and correct the erroneous posting in a timely manner. …
Although the individual error was ultimately corrected by management and the amount of the error was not material to the overall financial statements, the failure of multiple controls in the financial
reporting process increases the risk of similar errors going undetected and, therefore, causing a material misstatement of NASA’s financial statements. [emphasis mine]
Though Ernst & Young reported this issue in its report, its contract with NASA did not require it to include this issue in its final assessment of NASA. And because NASA corrected the issue so that in the end the financial statements added up correctly, the auditor was thus required to issue its “clean” conclusion.
Nonetheless, over the decades NASA has had a history of sloppiness in its accounting practices. This audit suggests some of that sloppiness remains, and should be looked into closely by the next administration and NASA’s new administrator, whoever that might be.
The poison of DEI
The second issue relates not to the audit but to the Biden administration’s insistence that NASA (and all government agencies) impose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) quotas in its hiring. In this financial report, NASA continues to proudly note how its hiring and contracting policies have imposed racial and gender quotas to favor certain minorities, woman, and the “LGBTQIA+ community.”
In FY 2024, NASA began a six-phase multi-year Agency-wide Full Workforce Barrier Analysis. The barrier analysis will address NASA’s overall workforce across the Agency and will examine four key identities: 1) race/ethnicity, 2) gender, 3) disability status, 4) LGBTQIA+ and include a component addressing NASA’s leadership pipeline. Thus far the Agency has completed two phases including personnel data analysis and shareholder interviewers, with a quantitative survey in phase three forthcoming.
From NASA’s Equity Plan.
The report links to NASA’s Equity Plan [pdf], which outlines this racist quota system in great detail. For example, NASA has set aside $2.3 billion in future contracts and grants expressly for minorities, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Maybe the most ridiculous policy under this Equity Plan is the “Equity in Climate Data Accessibility and Environmental Justice” program. To quote:
NASA Earth Science and its Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center conducted their first Equity and Environmental Justice Virtual Workshop to facilitate increased communication between NASA and Environmental Justice communities.
What the hell does this really mean? My guess is that at a minimum this program is giving these partisan leftist Marxists powerful positions to influence NASA policy in a completely inappropriate way. At worst NASA is using this program to funnel taxpayer money to these DEI outside organizations to give them resources and power for their racist lobbying efforts and political campaigning, something that is entirely inappropriate (with NASA playing political favorites) and outside the agency’s fundamental statutory authority.
The Trump administration should very quickly cancel this Equity Plan and the entire DEI department at NASA. The money used for these bigoted programs should instead be spent on NASA’s prime mission, encouraging the growth of a vibrant aerospace industry so that all Americans can explore the solar system — no matter what their race or sex — in the manner they desire.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
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P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Not everything is as great as NASA claims
Yesterday NASA issued a press release proudly announcing that its annual independent audit of NASA’s finances concluded “for the 14th consecutive year … an unmodified, or ‘clean,’ opinion [of] its fiscal year 2024 financial statements.”
The rating is the best possible audit opinion, certifying that NASA’s financial statements conform with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles for federal agencies and accurately present the agency’s financial position. The audit opinion reaffirms the agency’s commitment to transparency in the use of American taxpayers’ dollars.
In reading the actual financial statements and auditor’s report (available here [pdf]), I found however that all is not “clean”, as NASA claims. Two issues of concern — one financial and the other political — are well buried in the report and should be quickly dealt with by the upcoming Trump administration.
Sloppy bookkeeping
First, the independent auditor, Ernst & Young, found that NASA’s internal control system designed to track spending was not quite up to par. From pages 90-91 of the report:
During our tests of year-end financial statement amounts included in the draft agency financial report, we identified an unusual increase in the accounts payable balance when compared to the prior year amount. Upon investigation it was determined that a routine accrual for contract costs was posted to the financial management system in an amount that misstated the accounts payable line item by $254 million.
During our testing, we identified multiple controls that did not operate as designed and failed to prevent and/or detect and correct the erroneous posting in a timely manner. …
Although the individual error was ultimately corrected by management and the amount of the error was not material to the overall financial statements, the failure of multiple controls in the financial
reporting process increases the risk of similar errors going undetected and, therefore, causing a material misstatement of NASA’s financial statements. [emphasis mine]
Though Ernst & Young reported this issue in its report, its contract with NASA did not require it to include this issue in its final assessment of NASA. And because NASA corrected the issue so that in the end the financial statements added up correctly, the auditor was thus required to issue its “clean” conclusion.
Nonetheless, over the decades NASA has had a history of sloppiness in its accounting practices. This audit suggests some of that sloppiness remains, and should be looked into closely by the next administration and NASA’s new administrator, whoever that might be.
The poison of DEI
The second issue relates not to the audit but to the Biden administration’s insistence that NASA (and all government agencies) impose Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) quotas in its hiring. In this financial report, NASA continues to proudly note how its hiring and contracting policies have imposed racial and gender quotas to favor certain minorities, woman, and the “LGBTQIA+ community.”
In FY 2024, NASA began a six-phase multi-year Agency-wide Full Workforce Barrier Analysis. The barrier analysis will address NASA’s overall workforce across the Agency and will examine four key identities: 1) race/ethnicity, 2) gender, 3) disability status, 4) LGBTQIA+ and include a component addressing NASA’s leadership pipeline. Thus far the Agency has completed two phases including personnel data analysis and shareholder interviewers, with a quantitative survey in phase three forthcoming.
From NASA’s Equity Plan.
The report links to NASA’s Equity Plan [pdf], which outlines this racist quota system in great detail. For example, NASA has set aside $2.3 billion in future contracts and grants expressly for minorities, women, and the LGBTQIA+ community.
Maybe the most ridiculous policy under this Equity Plan is the “Equity in Climate Data Accessibility and Environmental Justice” program. To quote:
NASA Earth Science and its Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center conducted their first Equity and Environmental Justice Virtual Workshop to facilitate increased communication between NASA and Environmental Justice communities.
What the hell does this really mean? My guess is that at a minimum this program is giving these partisan leftist Marxists powerful positions to influence NASA policy in a completely inappropriate way. At worst NASA is using this program to funnel taxpayer money to these DEI outside organizations to give them resources and power for their racist lobbying efforts and political campaigning, something that is entirely inappropriate (with NASA playing political favorites) and outside the agency’s fundamental statutory authority.
The Trump administration should very quickly cancel this Equity Plan and the entire DEI department at NASA. The money used for these bigoted programs should instead be spent on NASA’s prime mission, encouraging the growth of a vibrant aerospace industry so that all Americans can explore the solar system — no matter what their race or sex — in the manner they desire.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
There’s an old joke that says eventually fighter jets will become so expensive that the Air Force will only be able to afford one, but with no money left over for maintenence or operation. The same applies to DEI. The intended trajectory was always for the DEI function to become the entire point of the organization.
We’ve turned back just in time. Whether this is a happy blip or a long term trend is yet to be seen.
You know that the “+” includes pedophiles, right?
NASA needs to go back to being an advisor to the aerospace industry, like it was during the NACA period before the Apollo program. NASA also needs to be a much smaller organization than it is now. Larger firms are easier to subvert than smaller ones.
Why did trump win? How about 4 years of _this_:
Massive inflation
Lies
Gaslighting
Hoaxes, like anthropogenic climate change
Cancel culture
Censorship
Disinformation
Lawfare
Election fraud
Thuggery
Sociopathy
Woking education, the bureaucracy, and the military
DEI imposed quotas (for hiring incompetents)
Cutural marxism
CRT and other forms of racism (more marxism)
Transgenderism, grooming, mutilation, and kidmapping children from parents
Attempts to mainstream pedophilia
Propaganda, indoctrination, and terror (fear-mongering)
Ignoring laws,court decisions, and the Constitution in general
Not to mention assassination. Which didn’t work. Their shooters were incompetent.
🙏🙏
The Bible prophesied 7-year Tribulation is at humanity’s doorstep & the time to escape is very short. To read more, pls visit https://bibleprophecyinaction.blogspot.com/
Related: Leadership:
REFOUNDING AND TRUE LEADERSHIP
“I was recently talking with a friend just before the 2024 presidential election and we were discussing politicians and who was qualified and who was not. And they were adamant that a qualified person to be in and run government was someone with “qualifications” I.E. “They were trained” and “qualified” to be in government. Like a special class of American I asked?”
https://www.sigma3ioc.com/post/the-refounding-and-true-leadership
What has NASA accomplished in the past 16 years? I have seen other nations advancing but Americans seem to be static. If we move to Mars it will be due people like Musk. NASA is a bureaucracy, incapable of original thought or action. It needs to be put out of its misery. DEI guarantees it. Can’t wait for a drag queen lunch.
DOGE should just claw back that 2.3 billion in DEI.
Committing money to an illegal program should have a consequence.
Part of what is uncovered here is the incessant use of the incorrect words and terms – many created out of whole cloth. When this incorrect use is presented initially and then permitted, we start down the path to further confusion, a loss in the argument against the motives behind the misuse of words, and eventually a loss of control of the issues – since “we don’t know what we’re talking about”
It’s very difficult to argue in the newly created world of : equity, gender oppression, environmental justice and the like when these are words that represent things that don’t exist. Engaging in the argument using these terms removes many of the basic foundations of the arguments against them.
If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language is not in accordance with the truth of thing, affairs cannot be carried on to success. ….
– Confucius
Chris wrote: “equity, gender oppression, environmental justice and the like”
The root meaning of these terms (and the like) is the same: punish the innocent because the “guilty” are not accessible. There may or may not be a guilty party, because these words exist solely for the unjustifiable power of the people wielding them, not for any kind of justice.