There is serious talk about turning NASA Langley and NASA Ames into museums (it's politically impossible to "close" a NASA center). Most of the wind tunnels have been moth balled at NASA Ames and they are laying off contractors. Contractors at Ames have "at will" contracts, i.e. they can be terminated without warning. Supposably the civil servants have jobs for life but this is only a polite fiction. Many of the civil servants at Ames have been offered "buy outs". A "buy out" offer is a not-too-subtle warning to a civil servant that he is being setup for a RIF (Reduction in Force), alias "getting laid off or fired". The gossip is that only "Code T" people will keep their jobs and everyone else will get the sack. Now that Sean O'Keefe has announced his resignation, the situation is bordering on panic. An opinion widely held is O'Keefe bailed out because the situation was hopeless. A common refrain heard is: "I'm too old to change careers but too young to retire". We're watching the Space Program undergoing an orderly shutdown.

Gary