Political Bias at NASA Confirmed
Politics was “inextricably interwoven” at the agency
An internal investigation at the nation's space agency found evidence that political appointees tried to muzzle scientists and stem the flow of scientific information about global warming. “Our investigation found that during the fall of 2004 through early 2006, the NASA Headquarters Office of Public Affairs managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science made available to the general public,” the New York Times quotes the report as saying.
According to the Times:
The report found credence in allegations that National Public Radio was denied access to top global warming scientist James Hansen. It also found evidence that NASA headquarters press officials canceled a press conference on a mission monitoring ozone pollution and global warming because it was too close to the 2004 presidential election.
In addition, the report detailed more than a dozen other actions in which it said the NASA public affairs office unilaterally edited or downgraded press releases having to do with global warming or denied access to scientists.
In early 2006, Hansen, a climate scientist at NASA, caused an uproar when he complained that Bush officials were restricting the flow of scientific information and preventing global warming researchers at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration from speaking freely to the press. "It seems more like Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union than the United States," Hansen told a panel discussion at the New School in New York City in 2006.
Andrew Tilghman at Talking Points Memo reminded readers this morning that much of the blame in the controversy was focused on George C. Deutsch, a 23-year-old presidential appointee to the communications office at NASA. After having volunteered with the Bush reelection campaign and worked as an assistant in the Presidential Inaugural Committee, he was appointed to NASA. The young Texan was criticized for asking a NASA Web designer (who shared Deutsch’s conservative religious views) to add the word “theory” after every mention of the Big Bang on the agency’s Web site. He was forced to resign when it was revealed that he had not graduated from A&M, as was stated on the resume he submitted with his job application.
The Times reported on accusations of political interference at NASA with a series of stories in 2006 (particularly this one, and this one). The agency claimed to have eliminated the political bias in 2006, claiming today that the Government Accountability Office had praised the agency for its openness. The Inspector General's report also supports the claim that the bias ended in 2006.
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