Muzzled under Bush, NASA Scientists Still Face Hurdles Publicizing Findings

By The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group

As President Barack Obama meets in Copenhagen with world leaders to address climate change, a recent government report notes that, even after NASA took steps to address the political considerations that led to the suppression or downplaying of studies of climate science from 2004 to 2006, researchers at the space agency are still unclear about whether they can share the results of their taxpayer-funded studies with the public.

A survey conducted earlier this year found that “fewer researchers have tried to disseminate their research results than in 2007, and more researchers have had their requests to disseminate denied,” according to the Government Accountability Office.

Many NASA scientists are still unclear whether they may discuss or publicize their research. “Fewer researchers believe they may discuss research results when the results differ from NASA’s policy,” the survey indicated. “Specifically, 43 percent believe they may discuss such results, 19 percent believe they may not, and 38 percent were uncertain.”

The December 3 GAO report was triggered after the space agency’s Inspector General found last year that between 2004 and 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,” including barring researchers from speaking with the media and downgrading news releases, which often spur press pickup, to “Web features,” the IG report found. (One downgraded news release was fuzzily titled, “Earth Gets a Warm Feeling All Over.”)

It concluded that “inappropriate political posturing was the proximate cause of at least some of these actions and that a political appointee… was a central figure in the allegations of censorship and denial of media access.”

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The Sunlight Foundation Reporting Group is part of the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan Washington, D.C.-based organization that uses cutting-edge technology and ideas to make government transparent and accountable.