[amsat-bb] Working together

[Burns Fisher]

Hi,

I am Burns Fisher, WB1FJ.  I'm a retired software engineer who is currently
writing software as a volunteer for AMSAT.  In my career, I have written
software that is not open source, as well as that which is--I don't have an
ax to grind in that fight.  I am not going to endorse or recommend against
any candidates in this mail, but I do want to bring to light a few items
that I don't believe have been discussed and to make a suggestion.

One thing that I have not heard in the discussion is that "not fully
open-source" is different from "proprietary".  I am NOT and never have been
an AMSAT director nor a policy decision maker in any form, but in my 10
years writing software for AMSAT satellites, I have had to deal with ITAR.  I
have been told to talk about things with non-US persons only after they are
published, for example.  However, I have NEVER seen or been told that it
was the intent of anyone in AMSAT to keep any information private forever.
We are encouraged to publish work that we are doing in the AMSAT Journal
and to talk and write about it for the Symposium (and I have done so).   In
addition, if you look in the back of your AMSAT Symposium Proceedings for
the past 8 or more years, you will find what we called "The ITAR Dump".
That is publishing specs and most everything that we could about the
satellites we were working on to be openly available in order to take it
out from under ITAR.

Another point worth making, and that I have personally seen, is that
sometimes secrets are necessary.  For example: We might be asked by a
university partner not to talk about some part of the experiment they want
to fly with us, so we do not talk; otherwise we could not fly the
experiment (and lose the launch opportunity this experiment afforded us).
We are told by our launch provider not to talk about dates and other things
regarding the launch, so we don't (or we don't get the launch--or perhaps
we find it harder to get the next one).  Some contacts that we make may be
willing to do really good things for AMSAT, but not if we talk about it
before they are ready for us to do so.

No one I know (and people I know include all the directors, the officers,
and all but one of the candidates) would be unhappy to reduce secretiveness
and especially to avoid ITAR, but nearly every choice we make is a tradeoff
that requires discussion.

Perhaps AMSAT is working under internal procedures relating to ITAR that
are outdated, especially given the law change and the many resulting rule
changes in the past 5 years.  If there is a path to fewer onerous
restrictions, that would be great.  Working together might lead us to that
path.

What we CAN NOT do is to ignore our previously-undertaken obligations.
NDAs are still in force.  Some previous work may still fall under
ITAR/EAR.  ITAR penalties are sufficiently draconian that we must step
carefully.  Slow and careful is frustrating.  However, no matter who gets
elected, infighing only slows things down.

I beg the newer directors to back off a bit.  I beg the longer term
directors to look for a way to work with the newer ones.  And above all, I
beg ALL of you to calm down, look within yourselves for mistakes you have
made in dealing with each other (surely no one is perfect), take ownership
for your mistakes, apologize for what you need to and vow TO YOURSELF AND
EACH OTHER that you will do better.

That is a difficult ask, I understand.  Trust has been badly battered.
Perhaps you need a professional mediator (and, while no expert myself, I
know who to ask for recommendations if you need them). What I *know* is
that fighting will not help.  Working together does not mean agreeing on
everything.  It only means finding SOME things you agree on (satellites in
HEO?) and agreeing to listen to each other.  Maybe calling each other by
your first names is a start?

I look forward to more light and less heat.

Thanks for reading...

73,

Burns WB1FJ