The history of both space councils, and the reasons for their elimination, provide ample evidence that such an organization at the White House level has only limited utility. High-level policy organizations only make sense if the decision makers want the advice in the first place or think that current methods and organizations are insufficient to provide such advice. As several observers have noted over the years, the reason that advocates want such an organization—to lobby for attention and funding for space activities inside the White House—is the same reason why presidential administrations oppose it. They do not want policy advocacy to be enshrined in a formal organization. President George W. Bush could have staffed a National Space Council in the first three and a half years of his presidency, but chose not to do so.
In addition, the previous experience of these organizations may serve as warnings to the current and future administrations. President George H.W. Bush was reportedly unhappy with the Space Council’s performance on the Space Exploration Initiative. He felt that they hastily advocated a policy that quickly became a political liability for him. A civilian space policy organization in the White House will naturally clash with NASA over the direction of the civilian space program.
It might make better sense to create a dedicated space exploration review committee at the NRC that can then provide advice to existing organizations.
The Space Exploration Steering Council would have only limited purview over the civilian space program. It would not have even the limited power that its predecessors had. Naturally, such an organization would seek to expand its purview to include other areas of civil and possibly even military space policy as the space exploration program required more funding and program changes.
Furthermore, much of the review and recommendation resources for the Vision for Space Exploration already exist in the National Research Council and its Applied Space Engineering Board and Space Studies Board. It might make better sense to create a dedicated space exploration review committee at the NRC that can then provide advice to existing organizations.
Even those who opposed the previous National Space Council have conceded that there is some value to such a body. As one former staffer explained, there are numerous cross-agency issues that simmer as problems for years but are unable to gain a hearing and get resolved because there is no centralized body to deal with them. A space council could provide a useful forum for such issues.
But a president who has not devoted much time or attention or political capital to space, and who has discovered that lunar and Mars exploration plans are a political liability, may not wish to have an organization dedicated to this subject occupying space in the White House bureaucracy. It is unlikely that the Aldridge Commission’s recommendation to create a Space Exploration Steering Council will actually be followed