The FBC philosophy came to NASA through the Defense Department, where the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) was working on a number of small satellite programs, including the Clementine lunar mission. The White House grabbed onto the approach and, after ousting NASA administrator Richard Truly because of his support for traditional large missions, put in Goldin, a TRW executive, to lead the new approach. Goldin was not initially fully supportive of small spacecraft missions—McCurdy notes that, at his confirmation hearing, he told then-Senator Al Gore that NASA would be making “a very grave mistake” if it focused exclusively on small missions—but eventually came around after seeing the shape of NASA’s budget. From that point on Goldin became a tireless, forceful advocate for FBC, though good times and bad.