Scientific Reports

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ!

Atmosphere of Pressure
Political Interference in Federal Climate Science

"Our new investigation shows that Americans are not getting the full story about the science of global warming from the federal government. When 150 scientists report personally experiencing at least 435 incidents of political interference, there is clearly a pattern of abuse. The number of scientists who report the manipulation or suppression of their work should be zero.

"America's leaders must have unfettered access to the best available scientific information to make fully informed decisions about our health, safety, and environment. Every day that the government stifles climate science is a day we fail to protect future generations and our planet from the consequences of climate change.

"Congress must pass strong whistleblower protection for scientists who report interference. And agencies must adopt communications policies that affirm the right of scientists to communicate freely about their scientific work with the media and the public."

Federal climate science research is at the forefront of assessing fundamental causes of global warming and the future dangers it could pose to our nation and the world.It is crucial that the best available science on climate change be disseminated to the public, through government websites, reports, and press releases. In recent years, however, this science has been increasingly tailored to reflect political goals rather than scientific fact.

Out of concern that inappropriate political interference and media favoritism are compromising federal climate science, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and the Government Accountability Project (GAP) undertook independent investigations of federal climate science. UCS mailed a questionnaire to more than 1,600 climate scientists at seven federal agencies to gauge the extent to which politics was playing a role in scientists' research. Surveys were also sent to scientists at the independent (non-federal) National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) to serve as a comparison with the experience of federal scientists. About 19 percent of all scientists responded (279 from federal agencies and 29 from NCAR).

At the same time, GAP conducted 40 in-depth interviews with federal climate scientists and other officials and analyzed thousands of pages of government documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and inside sources, regarding agency media policies and congressional communications.

These two complementary investigations arrived at similar conclusions regarding the state of federal climate research: while scientists hold a high regard for the quality of federal climate change research, there is broad interference in communicating scientific results.

UCS Senior Scientist Francesca Grifo testified about the report in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Find her written testimony in the "related links" box on this page.

Congress and agency leaders must act to end political interference in science. Federal agencies should adopt communications policies that promote a free and open exchange of information and include the following points:

• Scientific freedoms—Federal scientists have a constitutional right to speak about any subject so long as the scientists make it clear that they do so in their private capacity. Scientists must also have a "right of last review" on agency communications related to their research.
• Scientific openness—Scientists should not be subject to restrictions on media contacts beyond a policy of informing public affairs officials in advance of an interview and summarizing the interaction for them afterward.

• These two complementary investigations arrived at similar conclusions regarding the state of federal climate research: while scientists hold a high regard for the quality of federal climate change research, there is broad interference in communicating scientific results.

  UCS Senior Scientist Francesca Grifo testified about the report in front of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Find her written testimony in the "related links" box on this page.

  Congress and agency leaders must act to end political interference in science. Federal agencies should adopt communications policies that promote a free and open exchange of information and include the following points:

  • Scientific freedoms—Federal scientists have a constitutional right to speak about any subject so long as the scientists make it clear that they do so in their private capacity. Scientists must also have a "right of last review" on agency communications related to their research.
  • Scientific openness—Scientists should not be subject to restrictions on media contacts beyond a policy of informing public affairs officials in advance of an interview and summarizing the interaction for them afterward.