Bernie Moreno Asks NASA Nom Point Blank: What Does Its Motto ‘For The Benefit Of All’ Mean To You?’

4/10/2025

During Wednesday's Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee hearing, Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH) questioned Jared Isaacman, the nominee to be Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, about his dedication to uphold NASA’s mission.

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Transcript

00:01Senator Moreno. I'll start with you, Mrs. Trustee. Thank you so much for taking the

00:06time in my office. We did not know each other before meeting with you. Your

00:10parents are beaming with pride, which I love to see, with great with good reason.

00:16You're somebody who has an incredibly great temperament, incredible intellect,

00:21and I can't think of somebody more qualified to do your job, honestly. The

00:25one question I have for you is there's a scourge of robocalls. It creates enormous

00:30amounts of scammers. Seniors are getting built of their life savings. How would

00:36you use advanced technologies to put an end to this? Thank you, Senator. I really

00:42appreciate this question because you're right. I worry about the susceptibility of

00:46our youth and seniors to robocall scams, and I really worry about how illegal

00:51robocallers, as we just discussed, are leveraging artificial intelligence

00:55to get around call authentication measures. I think, generally, the FCC could

01:00benefit from stronger enforcement authorities and penalties to go after

01:03illegal robocallers. I also think the FCC can continue its work in working with

01:08international counterparts, as well as states, attorneys, generals, to go after

01:13these fraudsters. I think we need to discuss more proactive call blocking

01:18measures so that these calls never reach the end user. Again, I think artificial

01:21intelligence is the key here. Well, thank you. I can't wait to have you in that

01:25agency taking care of it, and I'm sure you will. And again, thank you for serving

01:28this country. Thank you, sir. Mr. Isaacson, I'm sure with your deep intellect that you

01:35know that the Aircraft Engine Research Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio, was created

01:4017 years before NASA was created. And there's a sign when you walk, when you

01:45drive into the center that says, for the benefit of all. What does that mean to you?

01:49Well, Senator, I do believe that NASA's mission is to undertake the near impossible, to solve the

01:57most demanding, complex engineering challenges, to bring commercial industry, so commercial

02:02industry can follow, and to bring the rest of the world along the way. And that's

02:07something that I'm sure you have a passion, a deep passion, to make sure that we are

02:12always the leaders. Is that correct? I 100%, Senator. And just for the record, could you

02:18give me a sense of the scale of difficulty it was for you as a kid, if I can say that, as

02:24a teenager, to create a company that would become as successful as yours? Give me the scale of

02:28difficulty and kind of the sum of it. Give me the one example of a deep challenge you faced

02:33making that happen that you thought maybe was impossible. Senator, there was certainly a lot

02:39of ups and downs over the last 26 years. I'd say probably some of the earliest challenges,

02:45although, I mean, as a company that went through the dot-com, the great recession, the pandemic,

02:50we certainly had our fair share of obstacles along the way. Probably some of the hardest was the

02:56earliest day, Senator, where we tried to grow through our own cash flows, which is always a

03:00challenge. And I was 16 years old, so I had to make sure I hid myself from any trade shows or

03:06in-person meetings. Occasionally, someone would show up at the house for a meeting and my father

03:11fortunately took that for me. It's always hard to meet underachievers. So congratulations on that.

03:18How will you use that skill set at a complex organization like NASA? Senator, NASA is an extraordinary

03:26agency and they are the most accomplished, well-respected space agency in the world. I want to do

03:30whatever I can and work alongside the best and brightest to continue that. I do suspect there

03:35are some things that I've learned through running two successful businesses over the last two,

03:40you know, more than two decades that I think I can help bring to the agency. I would love to roll

03:44up my sleeves, figure out what's being, what are the challenges we have from a program management

03:50perspective that are causing everything to take longer than it should and cost more than it should.

03:54I'd like to instill a very strong mission-first culture at the agency that we, if we can, if we can

04:00execute on our mission and get to the moon, get to Mars and all the other things, the inspiration,

04:05the STEM education will all take care of itself, a culture of ownership and accountability

04:09that when we make mistakes, we own them, we fix them, and we get back to delivering on their

04:14important objectives. Well, thank you for that. And I have one last question. Mr. Trustee, 100%

04:20unequivocal support from me. I hope to see my Democrat colleagues join us and see if we can get as

04:27many votes for you as humanly possible. But for Mr. Isaacson, I have one question. It does hinge,

04:32for me, the entirety of whether I can support your nomination or not. Who is the most important

04:38character in the movie Armageddon?

04:42Clearly, Bruce Willis for the important self-sacrifice for all mankind, sir.

04:48Let the record show he did not say Dan Truman, which makes me wonder of his judgment. But I will

04:53still reserve my vote for you.

Bernie Moreno Asks NASA Nom Point Blank: What Does Its Motto ‘For The Benefit Of All’ Mean To You?’

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