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NASA is refusing to release records of any investigations into their astronauts.

The secrecy of the U.S. space agency has reemerged as an issue after the international news coverage of a possible crime committed on the International Space Station by Astronaut Anne McClain. McClain was accused of hacking her wife’s banking information during a nasty custody fight.

Dolcefino Consulting requested five years of completed investigative reports in a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act.

The NASA Office of Inspector General says in their mission statement that they, “independently report to the Administrator, Congress, and the public,” and that the Office of Investigations, “investigates allegations of crime, cyber-crime, fraud, abuse or misconduct having an impact on NASA programs, personnel and resources.”

In a letter dated November 8, 2019, James Ives, Assistant Inspector General for Investigations denied our request for any completed investigations to protect the “privacy interest of third parties.”

“This agency is given tens of billions of dollars from taxpayers every year and that makes them accountable to the public, period,” says Wayne Dolcefino, President of Dolcefino Consulting. “The OIG’s job is not to protect NASA from scandal, but to protect the public.”

NASA has not been immune from scandal. In 2007, Astronaut Lisa Nowak was arrested in Florida and charged with attempted kidnapping, burglary with assault and battery.

The fight between Summer Worden and Astronaut Anne McClain became national news this year. McClain dropped her attempt to gain rights for a child that was born before the couple met, but Judge Dunson has refused to sign the order ending the dispute.

It has been more than a month since Judge Dunson got a simple order to sign and she has refused. “We think the judge is abusing the power of her office to punish Summer for speaking out about decisions in that court,” says Dolcefino. “Summer is having to fight courthouse retaliation and NASA secrecy at the same time and that is outrageous for this mother.”

The OIG has failed to disclose the status of the McClain investigation. The media has described the allegations against her as the first possible crime in space.

“If the OIG tries to hide the results of its work, we may be forced to go to federal court to let the sunshine in,” says Dolcefino.

NASA Investigates First Allegation of Crime in Space

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Hillary Clinton’s emails from her private server will be released in January 2016, the State Department has told a federal court.

Since launching her presidential bid, Hillary Clinton has been on the defensive about her use of the server to conduct official business while she was secretary of state.

The timing for the release could prove tricky for her campaign.Hillary Clinton email scandal 2015

The State Department says it will publish some of the 55,000 pages of emails online.

It proposed the date in court documents filed on May 18. The documents were in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request made by Vice News.

The proposed date falls just a few weeks before the Iowa caucuses and other early state primary elections.

John Hackett, the state department official in charge of handling FOIA requests, said the 55,00 pages of emails were delivered in paper form and would require time to review before their release.

“Given the breadth and importance of the many foreign policy issues on which the secretary of state and the department work, the review of these materials will likely require consultation with a broad range of subject matter experts within the department and other agencies, as well as potentially with foreign governments,” he said.

Hillary Clinton, who voluntarily turned over emails from the server after discarding the ones she deemed personal, has said she wants the department to release the emails as soon as possible.

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