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Two employees with the same last name were part of the reason behind Friday's security scare at a NASA research center in Ohio.
The Glenn Research Center was locked down for an hour after an employee received a phone call leading him to believe a gunman was on campus.
It turned out that the phone call was part of a test of emergency management systems at another NASA center, Center Director Ramon Lugo III said in a press conference Friday.
The employee who received the phone call at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland had the same last name as an employee at the test site, triggering the misdirected phone call, he said.
The employee reported the phone call and the center was locked down for about an hour until officials became aware of the error.
"There is not – nor has there been – a gunman or shooter here at NASA Glenn Research Center," Lugo said Friday at the press conference. "All the employees are safe."
With noteworthy aplomb, he also responded to a question from a reporter that was probably on the minds of others: "How embarrassing is this for NASA? You guys are rocket scientists, you put people on the moon, what's going on?"
Lugo said NASA buys its emergency management systems from outside contractors, and tests like this help work out bugs in the system.
"OK, so it is embarrassing," he said with a slight smile.
"But what we did, we actually performed an exercise today that proves that we, working with local law enforcement, can secure our employees in the center, so there was a benefit. It just would've been nice to know we were running an exercise."
[Update 11:04 a.m.] NASA has given the all-clear after a security scare at a research center in Ohio. The agency says the incident was part of a security test.
[Original post] NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is on lockdown after unconfirmed reports of "possible activity involving a gun," a NASA spokeswoman said Friday.
The Glenn Research Center was locked down for an hour after an employee received a phone call leading him to believe a gunman was on campus.
It turned out that the phone call was part of a test of emergency management systems at another NASA center, Center Director Ramon Lugo III said in a press conference Friday.
The employee who received the phone call at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland had the same last name as an employee at the test site, triggering the misdirected phone call, he said.
The employee reported the phone call and the center was locked down for about an hour until officials became aware of the error.
"There is not – nor has there been – a gunman or shooter here at NASA Glenn Research Center," Lugo said Friday at the press conference. "All the employees are safe."
With noteworthy aplomb, he also responded to a question from a reporter that was probably on the minds of others: "How embarrassing is this for NASA? You guys are rocket scientists, you put people on the moon, what's going on?"
Lugo said NASA buys its emergency management systems from outside contractors, and tests like this help work out bugs in the system.
"OK, so it is embarrassing," he said with a slight smile.
"But what we did, we actually performed an exercise today that proves that we, working with local law enforcement, can secure our employees in the center, so there was a benefit. It just would've been nice to know we were running an exercise."
[Update 11:04 a.m.] NASA has given the all-clear after a security scare at a research center in Ohio. The agency says the incident was part of a security test.
[Original post] NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, is on lockdown after unconfirmed reports of "possible activity involving a gun," a NASA spokeswoman said Friday.