People at South Pole: DV's

There were eight people on my flight, from Christchurch to McMurdo to
South Pole who were what we call DV's, distinguished visitors. This
is Daniel Ginsberg and Chan Lieu, just as they got off the plane at
South Pole. They are on a very tight schedule: they are only making a
day trip to the South Pole, so in a few hours, they already flew
back. In a few hours, they have to assess and see whatever it is that
their job brings down them for. Hilary Clinton was in New Zealand
right around the time we flew to Antarctica and one of the DVs told me
they were trying to see if they could arrange her to come at least to
McMurdo. In the end, the uncertainty that is inherent Antarctic
travel made it impossible to fit the trip into her busy schedule.

The U.S. Air Force Reserve handles the logistics like flights in and
out of Antarctica. From what I understood, Daniel Ginsberg is in
charge of the allocation of manpower for the reserve, and he is the
one making sure that support for science and other responsibilities
are allocated and handled appropriately.

Chan Lieu is the staff director for the U.S. Senate science and
transportation subcommittee on science and space. He directs people
who collects data for the Senate and gives advice on how they should
spend money for science and space programs (I think I got that
right...). He has an IT background.

Wow!