An *Official* Seat At The Table…

Yesterday, every Obama-Biden Transition staff member received a memo outlining the “Seat at the Table” Transparency Policy.  The policy applies to “official meetings” which are defined as a meeting with an outside organization or representative to which three or more outside participants attend.  The policy does not apply to non-public or classified information and internal memos, but it’s a real step forward in transparency by the transition staff!  Basically, what this means is that the American public are actually encouraged to take a seat at the table and engage in a dialogue about important issues and ideas — at the very same time the transition team reviews those documents themselves.  This is your opportunity to get involved.  If you take a look at the new website feature for this effort there are 11 documents posted already.  One of these 11 documents posted on November 23rd is regarding “Space Solar Power (SSP) — A Solution for Energy Independence & Climate Change.”

The memo also says that “this scope is a floor, not a ceiling, and all staff are strongly encouraged to include additional materials.”  To date, I’ve been personally very impressed with how open a number of agencies and transition teams have been.  I’m looking forward to the transparency and openness propagating into the NASA review process!  

Read the full memo here.