WASHINGTON — The National Space Society (NSS) is looking for a new executive director for the second time in a year.
Paul Damphousse, a retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel who took the reins of the 25-year-old advocacy organization in January 2012, resigned Feb. 7 citing disagreements with some members of the group’s governing board.
“During the last year in this role it has become abundantly clear, however, that as long as elements of the existing leadership of the NSS continue to pursue courses of action — and perpetuate an atmosphere — that are not in the best interests of the Society, the challenges the organization face will become insurmountable,” Damphousse wrote in a Feb. 7 letter to the NSS board of directors. “For both professional and personal reasons, I have decided to pursue other opportunities.”
Damphousse, a combat pilot who concluded his 22-year military career as the National Security Space Office’s chief of advanced concepts, said he is stepping down effective Feb. 15.
Prior to retiring from the Marines in 2011, Damphousse advised U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) on civil and national security space matters as a NASA fellow.
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