In the absence of any congressional oversight, the public has no choice but to rely on Andrew Revkin of the NY Times to investigate the censorship scandal at NASA. In
today's story, Revkin finds that research contradictory to administration policies was suppressed during the 2004 Presidential campaign. One example given was the postponement of a press conference to announce new data on ozone and air pollution.
After citing further examples, Revkin writes that:
The recent accusations of political interference appear to reflect an intensifying debate between a small but influential cluster of presidential appointees at NASA headquarters and longtime civil servants and career scientists dispersed at space agency research hubs around the country.
Of course, the real question is who was coordinating that cluster of political appointees? Were they making the decision themselves to censor scientists or were there given orders?
Not surprisingly, David R. Mould, NASA's assistant administrator for public affairs said:
"We've received no marching orders from anyone,"
But unless there is a thorough independent investigation, how will we ever know? Congress has abdicated its responsibility on too many issues.
Call Rep. Boehlert at (202) 225-6371 and tell him to investigate this abuse of power.