To add few points to the discussion:

In my personal opinion the primary reason for deterioration in quality is due to the fact ( this is applicable both in west and in east ) that the younger generation does not find the stress job "interesting" or "rewarding".

Interesting because "they don't have time to think " as they have to give "maximum output" in "minimum amount of time" courtesy computerized pipe stress analysis softwares where if the output comes in a red color it is "fail", else it is "pass".Also if CAESAR or any software shows higher loads at equipment( this is also a bane of too much of computerization as they do not bother to see what is written in those equipment standards but rely blindly on the software) add a loop here or there and do some iteration till CAESAR or any other software does not come out with the desired values.

In olden time we had good quality stress engineers as they did not have the luxury of computers to help them do their job and had to read these codes and standards to do them.I don't belong to the school of "old stress engineers' as I am in mid thirties but I was tought stress analysis by a gentleman who is sort of a contemporaty of Mr.Luf Or Mr. Breen and I revere him for his indepth knopwledge which I found missing in today's young stess engineers.

They don't find the job "rewarding" as in todays world an engineer has lost his reputation and pride which he earlier used to enjoy and he ( the stress engineer) is no longer a decision maker but a "software user" who is expected to perform miracle ( maximum output in minimum time )using the "software".

So then what is the solution.In my opinion till attitude does not change , there is no solution. In someway the stress analysts job should be more rewarding to draw fresh blood in this field who would enjoy their job and only then will the quality improve.

Lastly dishonesty is a growing epidemic not only confined to east but in west also.The reason why Leonard Thill had to "clean up" the work in Bombay because in India the average age of a stress engineer is thirty or less than that. So they in no way can meet the experience and knowledge of Mr. Thill.I think the same would happen in USA also if Mr. Thill checks the work of a stress engineer who is 3-4 yrs experienced.

India has a vast resouce of qualified and hard working persons ( not only cheap) and can produce excellent stress engineers ( the fact that a major population of engineers at NASA are people of indian origin supports my view )which would really justify outsourcing not only for price but also for quality .Only thing they need is a "more rewarding" job profile else the best of brains will go for management or administrative services.

I have personally visited USA on two occasions and found that the young generation of engineers over there also do not find the " stress analysts" job intersting , particularly because of the "maximum output in minimum time using the garbage-in-garbage-out concept" . If young generation in USA also do not get the right motivation and " reawrding environment", there will not be a second generation of stress engineers whom Mr. Luf Or Mr. Thill can pass their knowledge on.So this is a global problem and not confined to ASIA only.

Regards