According to Space.com, retired General Scott Gration has been asked to serve as NASA Administrator:
WASHINGTON - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has asked retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Scott Gration, one of his top foreign policy and military advisers during his campaign, to take the helm of NASA, according to a source informed of the selection.
Nasa Watch reports only that Scott Gration's name is being circulated for vetting.
I'll keep scanning for more news and links.
Who is Scott Gration? Thus far, I've found very little on his views concerning space policy after the fold I will explore some background and I will update this diary as I learn more.
Thus far, there is only one source I've found saying Gration is the choice and therefore it could be in error.
Newsweek, August 2, 2007:
Those who fall in with the Barack Obama campaign tend to fall hard for the man himself, and none more than Jonathan Scott Gration. A recently retired Air Force major general who voted for George W. Bush in 2000, Gration accompanied Obama on a 15-day tour of Africa last August and was, he says, simply bowled over. When the two traveled to Kenya, the homeland of Obama’s father, the U.S. presidential candidate directly confronted President Mwai Kibaki over corruption. "It was an incredible thing to watch," Gration later blogged on BarackObama.com. After the two of them went to Robben Island, the South African prison where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for almost three decades. Gration had something of an epiphany. "To see how Mandela saved his country by bridging racial, ethnic and in some cases cultural diversity, and turn a page from a turbulent time—I think that’s sort of what the senator’s doing," Gration told NEWSWEEK in an interview this week. "He’s using his experience to turn a page for America, not only to bring the country together, but to give us a different image externally."
Wikipedia:
Substantial military career, little NASA involvement.
He spoke in Denver, at the Convention:
Before I go any further, I have a confession to make: until recently, I was a Republican. But you’ll be happy to know that I’m looking forward to voting for Barack Obama in November.
Let me tell you about the journey that led me to Mile High. I moved to Congo when I was a year old. My parents were missionary teachers. The first words I learned were in Swahili. My family had to be evacuated and we ended up as refugees. So I learned at an early age to value freedom and the ideals of America.
I am proud to have served in the United States Air Force for over three decades. I’ve served in combat with many who are here tonight. We know what America needs in our next commander-in-chief.
In 2005, I was director of strategy, plans, and policy at United States European Command. That’s when I met a leader unlike any I had met before. That’s when I met Barack Obama.
Senator Obama wanted to know what the military was doing in Europe, Eurasia, and Africa and he wanted to know why we were doing it. He asked tough questions, and he didn’t settle for easy answers. It was this same way of thinking that led him to get it right, when he opposed the war in Iraq, when he warned of its consequences. That’s the judgment of a leader.