NASA Leadership Gap Nears End: Senate Moves on CFO and Inspector General Nominees

Personnel Update: NASA Oversight

The Senate Commerce Committee has initiated the final phases of confirmation for two critical NASA leadership roles: Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Inspector General (IG). According to SpaceNews, the committee held a nomination hearing on November 10 and is scheduled to vote on November 18 before sending the candidates to the full Senate.

The Candidates

Joshua Shoemaker is nominated for the CFO position. An accountant with two decades of experience across the private sector and Mississippi state government, Shoemaker most recently served as a senior adviser in NASA’s Mission Support Directorate. During his testimony, he emphasized the need for modernizing NASA’s financial systems and providing "honest and timely" assessments of program performance against budgets.

Robert Steinau has been tapped for the Inspector General role. A veteran of the NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) since 2009, Steinau has been the office’s acting senior official since late 2024. His prior experience includes stints with the Department of Energy’s OIG and the U.S. Secret Service. Steinau identified the Artemis lunar missions, the transition from the ISS to commercial platforms, and cybersecurity as the agency's primary challenges.

Closing the Vacancy

NASA has operated without a Senate-confirmed CFO since January 2025 and has lacked a confirmed IG since late 2023. These positions are among the four at the agency—including Administrator and Deputy Administrator—that require legislative approval.

Shoemaker noted that accountability must scale with the agency's current trajectory, stating that "accountability must keep pace with ambition." While senators focused heavily on separate FCC nominations during the hearing, the lack of aggressive questioning suggests a smooth path toward the November 18 committee vote.