[X] My Assistant

[Stu]

Seriously, hasn't anyone else got any thoughts (dismissive or otherwise) on the "Have you briefed the President's Science Advisor?" (re MECA) question by C Covault? I am NOT going all woo-woo here, don't worry, I just thought it was an odd thing to ask... To my ears it sounded like C C was suggesting, subtly, to the panel that he had heard "something" about the MECA analysis and wanted them to comment. The question was brushed aside - rather uncomfortably I thought - and the discussion quickly moved on, but it seemed like a bit of a Moment to me. He actually began, if I remember correctly, by asking where the "MECA guys" were, asking if they had "been hidden under the table"... cue uncomfortable laughs from the panel...

Again, I have to stress, in case anyone thinks I'm 'suggesting' anything, I'm not getting all Muldur here, I was just struck by how out of the blue the question was, and wondered if anyone has any thoughts on it...

[dvandorn]

I dunno... a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I got a journalism degree in college, and actually worked in newspapers for a couple of years (until I discovered I could make *tons* more money in technical writing).

I have something of a clue of how these things work. And I'd bet y'all any money the sequence went something like this:

Craig Covault is sitting around his office and gets a call from a friend who monitors the White House beat (likely for some other news organization). Let's face it, Covault isn't a White House correspondent.

Covault's friend says, "Hey, I just got word that your Mars lander guys came and gave a special presentation to the President. What the <bleep> is happening over on your side of the street, Craig?"

Covault guardedly replies, "Nothing they've told *me*."

Whereupon friend correspondent says, "Well, they have to have *something* hot, or they wouldn't be briefing the White House."

Now, if you're Craig Covault at that moment, maybe having nursed some private concerns over the very, very little information that has been released from the first TEGA run and from the WCL runs, just how are you going to feel? Maybe just a little, well... blindsided?

I can't blame the man for reacting the way he did. If the above scenario is correct, Covault got his skinny from a political reporter, while his own contacts in the Phoenix team and in the space industry in general had not only not given him any hints of this, it might just feel to him like his contacts have been deliberately withholding information from him. (Please note, I am *not* particularly suggesting that is the case, or that it would be un-called-for even if true -- I'm only suggesting that this scenario may have made Covault *feel* like that.)

If it were me, and especially if private questions along the same lines had been stonewalled, then heck, yes, I'll ask the question at a press conference. If I'm feeling like my contacts don't respect me, then I'm more motivated to remind them that respect is a two-way street.

Again, speaking from the point of view of someone who has worked the reporter's side of the street, and knows a little bit about the somewhat lunatic dynamic between a beat reporter and his/her contacts.

-the other Doug