Normalization of Deviance

Danger is not the crisis we see. It’s the behavior we stop noticing.

STS-107 Crew Photo, taken aboard Columbia

The greatest threat to a democracy is not necessarily a dramatic rupture. It can be the slow, steady acceptance of behavior that previous generations would have immediately recognized as unacceptable.

On January 28th 1986 the world watched in horror as NASA’s space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff. A leaking booster seal caused the shuttle’s destruction, killing its crew and shocking a nation. The extensive investigation revealed that engineers had repeatedly warned management about the problem, but their concerns were ignored.

Challenger Explosion, 28 Jan 1986

To pause the shuttle program to correct these problems would have been incredibly costly. Besides, the shuttle had flown 24 times before Challenger and nobody had died, so this couldn’t have been that serious of a problem, right? Or so the thinking had gone.

In her book, The Challenger Launch Decision, sociologist Diane Vaughan argued that the real cause of this tragedy was not malevolence, but rather “The Normalization of Deviance,” an incredibly insightful concept that explains NASA’s journey down a very slippery slope. Cameras had spotted leaking gas on many launches before the disaster, but it never caused an accident, so management convinced themselves that the problem wasn’t all that bad. They had normalized deviance.

17 years later, I was a rookie astronaut assigned to help the space shuttle Columbia’s families during the STS-107 mission as a “family escort,” an astronaut job ironically created after the Challenger tragedy. Shortly after liftoff, a piece of foam had fallen off the orange fuel tank and struck the leading edge of Columbia’s wing. Many engineers (as well as myself) had asked management for on-orbit photos to be taken of the wing to see if any damage was sustained, because during re-entry that part of the shuttle would get incredibly hot when it hit the atmosphere flying 25 times the speed of sound. The shuttle’s heat shield simply had to be in perfect condition to survive. Tragically, NASA management refused to ask the Air Force or the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) to take photos of Columbia while she was still in orbit.

For the previous 20 years of the space shuttle program, foam had fallen off and damaged the underbelly of the shuttle during nearly every launch, but it had never killed the crew. There had even been several serious close-calls due to foam damage. But on STS-107 the foam had struck a much more sensitive area than it had on previous missions. Two weeks later, while returning to Earth hot plasma leaked into a hole that the foam strike had caused. The wing burned off about 15 minutes before landing, resulting in Columbia’s destruction in the skies above Texas. All seven friends on board were killed.

Space Shuttle Columbia Breaks Apart over Texas, 1 Feb 2003

During two decades of space shuttle operations NASA had learned the false lesson that foam strikes during launch weren’t a problem. Once again, they had normalized deviance.

And seven brave astronauts died.

The Normalization of Deviance applies to much more than just spaceflight. Consider what is happening to our democracy here in America.

It feels like Steve Bannon’s infamous “flood the zone with sh*t” strategy may be working. Every morning we wake to a new attack, none of which are normal, on our democratic system, the constitution and the rule of law.

• Unprecedented self-enrichment schemes by the President and his family.

• Masked federal agents detaining people without due process.

• Eroding constitutional limits on executive power.

• Undermining independent oversight institutions.

• Politics that treats every issue as total war rather than governance

And threatening to invade Greenland isn’t normal. Threatening to end Iran’s civilization in one night isn’t normal. Destroying the East Wing of the White House isn’t normal. Hanging massive hundred-foot tall portraits of Angry Trump from Washington D.C. buildings isn’t normal. In fact, North Korea’s “Dear Leader” level crazy.

In normal times, each of these issues would warrant a Woodward and Bernstein-level investigation. But we aren’t living in normal times; we must step back, acknowledge that this is not normal, and respond accordingly.

So what is to be done?

This moment demands courage. Talkin’ to you John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis and Mitch McConnell. This moment demands leaders who will do the right thing in the face of the Wrath of Trump. Unless brave men and women step up now, this slope may be too slippery to avoid a democratic “loss of control,” to borrow a test pilot term.

Also, we, the American people, need to do our civic duty and vote like their country is on the line, because it is. It is said that you get what you deserve in a democracy, and unless we, the voters, understand that what is happening in our country today is not acceptable, our current situation won’t end well.

What is happening in 2026 America is deviant, and our response to it can not be “business as usual.” This is no Obama vs Romney moment, it’s not Clinton vs. Dole.

This is a national survival vs. the end of the American experiment moment. Since our nation’s founding 250 years ago, millions of Americans have sacrificed their lives to give us the incredible country that we have today. I, for one, am not willing to let their sacrifice be in vain.

If America were a rocket, it would be flying towards a spectacular crash. The NASA managers who made those fateful decisions weren’t malicious, they were just blinded to reality. They assumed that something incredibly dangerous was OK when it was not, and their eyes were not opened to the truth until it was too late.

Normalizing deviance killed the Challenger crew. It killed seven of my friends onboard Columbia. Let us open our collective eyes now, and firmly resolve to stop it before it kills the nation that we love.

Terry Virts (Colonel, USAF Ret) is a former F-16 pilot, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He spent over seven months in space, commanded the International Space Station, and performed three space walks. He recently ran for the US House of Representatives, and is currently a motivational speaker, executive coach, and entrepreneur. He is a member of The Steady State.

Founded in 2016, The Steady State is a nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization of more than 400 former senior national security professionals. Our membership includes former officials from the CIA, FBI, Department of State, Department of Defense, and Department of Homeland Security. Drawing on deep expertise across national security disciplines, including intelligence, diplomacy, military affairs, and law, we advocate for constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and the preservation of America’s national security institutions.