Jeff,
Everyone will be grateful, if there's something to be grateful for. All I am asking for is support of the claim that this is, in fact, a milestone. The publicly posted CJ Determination letter, leaves ALL of the critical information out and means nothing, without context. What was in the request, specifically? If you want to claim that this is some huge leap or advance being made on ITAR issues for ORI, AMSAT, or whomever... all I am asking for is a copy of the Form DS-4076, a copy of all supplemental materials and communications with the DOS/DDTC on the matter. This way, everyone in the community can read through and digest what was specifically requested, in order to authenticate the claim. I made an effort to find the information on ORIs website , but nothing came up. I apologize in advance if I missed it...
You say no politics is involved, but I beg to differ. This could be an attempt to say "hey -bb, look how awesome we all are!! we defeated ITAR!!", and then pat each other on the back on the -bb, Right, Before An Election... just to get brownie points with the community, without providing any actual substance. A lot of BB-readers may not be well-informed on the process and incorrectly conclude: "wow, what progress!".
A little transparency could go a long way here.
If what is being claimed is true, then high-five, that's awesome! But, without seeing the request and supplementary info, the determination letter means little to nothing to me personally.
Joseph Armbruster KJ4JIO
On Tue, Aug 18, 2020 at 9:48 PM Jeff Johns via AMSAT-BB amsat-bb@amsat.org wrote:
Although, I am not a particular fan of ORI so-far, which is why I voted
for
Hammond, Paige, Stoetzer....
I do commend any individual or entity that is able and willing to deal
with
the DOS or DDTC.
Have any of the three that you voted for spent any time putting in the effort that Michelle has done to reach the milestone she has achieved? From their campaign material, all I saw were promises of an HEO satellite which they haven’t been able to provide during their time in office. There was nothing showing that they were making advances on ITAR issues which I is a major roadblock for future spacecraft.
It seems to me that Michelle et al are pushing forward to help create new technologies in a new way. I’m not an EE nor an ITAR expert, but I can easily recognize that I have not seen anyone from within AMSAT even attempting to do what she has so far accomplished with this announcement. If someone from within AMSAT is doing so, they certainly aren’t letting the membership know about it.
Maybe people should just be grateful that someone is willing to put in the work to help move things forward in an innovative manner.
I was not going to turn this news into a political statement but, since Joseph did, I will say that for those that have yet to vote, please consider myself, Howie and Bob. I guarantee that we will work hard to use work such as this to help forward AMSAT’s mission.
Jeff WE4B http://we4bravo.com _______________________________________________ Sent via AMSAT-BB@amsat.org. AMSAT-NA makes this open forum available to all interested persons worldwide without requiring membership. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author, and do not reflect the official views of AMSAT-NA. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: https://www.amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb