FACING UP TO NASA'S HACKER PROBLEMFACING UP TO NASA'S HACKER A person who writes programs in assembly language or in system-level languages, such as C. The term often refers to any programmer, but its true meaning is someone with a strong technical background who is "hacking away" at the bits and bytes. PROBLEMRegarding "The Taking of NASA's Secrets" (In Depth, Dec. 1): While the problem of network-security breaches is not unique to NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. , attempts to compromise the security of NASA's computer networks are of serious concern to the House of Representatives committee I chair. The committee has been troubled by the reported hacker intrusions and the lack of a comprehensive means of preventing them, as well as by the failure of current NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb Robert W. Cobb is the Inspector General of NASA. After appointment by President George W. Bush, and Senate confirmation, Cobb took office on 2002-04-22. He also served as an "observer" to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, which examined the February 1, 2003, loss of the to act as a credible watchdog. Earlier this year the committee included a provision in the NASA Authorization Act of 2008 that directs the Government Accountability Office The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the United States Congress, and thus an agency in the Legislative Branch of the United States Government. to undertake a comprehensive, independent review of NASA's information-security controls. I will be closely monitoring the progress of that review and will continue to press for improvements in the way NASA deals with this problem. Representative Bart Gordon Barton Jennings Gordon, (born January 24, 1949) is a politician from the state of Tennessee, representing the state's 6th Congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is a Democrat. Chairman, House Committee on Science & Technology WASHINGTON 
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