Theon Strikes Back

From comments here, a missive from John S. Theon to Marc Morano, regarding his position re James Hansen in the NASA hierarchy (which I wrote about originally here). I will post it without comment, other than to note that:


1) Hansen does not deny having met Theon, he simply claims to not recall meeting Theon. What this says about Mr. Hansen's memory is unclear. It sounds as though the two men would only have come into direct contact a couple of times a year on average, and it is quite possible that Theon played so little a role in Mr. Hansen's professional life that he was simply not memorable.

2) The concept of being "in effect" a person's supervisor comes into play again. I will just note that two men worked out of different cities and, again, Theon played no part in determining whether Mr. Hansen remained a NASA employee. Those people who have argued that you can "supervise" another under such circumstances tend to invoke the concept of "dotted line bosses" and reference the comic strip Dilbert. Not terribly convincing, as far as I am concerned.

3) Finally, Roy Spencer has been bitching how, way back when, Mr. Theon seemed a proper warmist while he (Spencer) was the guy getting oppressed by NASA for his skeptical views. Perhaps Mr. Theon can explain the evolution of his thinking from the 90s until today. Furthermore--since presumably if he was Hansen's supervisor he was Spencer's supervisor as well--perhaps he can explain who it was in the NASA hierarchy that was behind the "muzzling" of Dr. Spencer.

Marc,

It is absurd that Hansen denies ever meeting me. We have met on numerous occasions. This just demonstrates that Hansen has a poor memory.

I worked with Hansen from about 1983 to 1994 during which time he was at GISS in NYC and I was at NASA HQ in Washington DC. I retired from NASA in 1995. I had completed 37 and 1/2 years of federal service (civilian Navy, USAF, and including 33 years with NASA.)

The money came through me. We were in the Earth Observations Program which later became the Mission to Planet Earth Program. I visited GISS at least once a year to review and evaluate the GISS work. When I visited NYC, to review the research that GISS was funded to do out of the program for which I was responsible, Hansen was most cordial. When I asked him to give a lecture in Japan, he complied.

It was what it was, and no amount of denial will change that.

I repeat what I wrote to you in January: “I was, in effect, Hansen's supervisor because I had to justify his funding, allocate his resources, and evaluate his results. I did not have the authority to give him his annual performance evaluation.”

Regarding some of the other attacks that have been aimed at me: I am truly appalled at the backbiting, vitriol that is sent by people who have nothing better to do than try to smear other people's reputations because they do not agree with their own thinking. To them, I recommend that they get a life.

John