NRC R&A study: The space studies board of the National Academies has convened a committee on 'The Role and Scope of Mission-Enabling Activities in NASA's Space and Earth Science Missions' which they point out encompasses '... much of NASA’s research and analysis (R&A) programs...theory, modeling, and data analysis; sub-orbital flights and complementary ground-based programs; and advanced mission and instrumentation concept studies.' SMD is very excited about this committee which will be chaired by Dr. Lennard A. Fisk and includes many wise folks who have helped to shape the program in the past (e.g., Dr. Guenter Riegler), those who are still active in the NASA research community today (e.g., Dr. Mark V. Sykes) and distinguished innovators from industry (e.g., Steven Battel). For more information see: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/cp/CommitteeView.aspx?key=48965
During the Jan 21-22 meeting of the Mission-Enabling Activities group Paul Hertz presented many slides: 
Download PDF (9.9 MB) | Download text-only .rtf format
AAAC: The Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (AAAC) is a federal advisory committee chartered under the Federal Advisory Committee Act that advises NASA, NSF and other agencies on selected issues within the fields of astronomy and astrophysics that are of mutual interest and concern to the agencies.
CAA: The Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics monitors the status of space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics and provides assessments to the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and other institutions as a joint committee of the Space Studies Board and the Board on Physics and Astronomy.
Astro Decadal: Astro2010, the NRC astronomy and astrophysics decadal survey is under way. To learn about committee/panel membership and how to provide input see http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bpa/Astro2010.html.
MOWGs: Management Operations Working Groups (MOWG's) are informal groups who help NASA maintain a close relationship with the space science community. There are MOWGs in various areas including the Planetary Systems Science/Management Operations Working Group, PSS/MOWG, the EPO MOWG, three Heliophysics MOWGs, many others. Also available, Heliophysics MOWG news from Dr. Barbara Giles.
NAC: The NASA Advisory Council provides the NASA Administrator with council and advice on programs and issues of importance to NASA. Upcoming meetings (locations TBD):
- February 3-5, 2009
- April 14-16, 2009
- July 14-16, 2009
- October 27-29, 2009
See http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nac/ for links to the NAC org chart, meeting minutes and presentations, and current meeting dates.
NAC subcommittees: There are five NAC Science Subcommittees covering Astrophysics, Earth Science, Heliophysics, Planetary Protection and Planetary Science. The minutes, report and recommendations from meetings of the PSS are posted on the unofficial site at http://www.lpi.usra.edu/pss/. You can download a PDF version of the agenda from the Heliophysics Subcommittee Meeting from September 24-26, 2008 at NASA Headquarters. Notices of these meetings appear in the Federal Register. Download a PDF of Vol 72 #174 (Sept 10th) edition. This information also gets reposted on the web at places like spaceref.com. For the NASA web page with downloadable PDF versions of agendas from previous Subcommittee meetings see the NAC Science Subcommittee page.