It is easy enough to understand why the politically motivated censorship and distortion of scientific and technical research would be of overriding concern even to apolitical scientists: a doctrinaire allegiance to one set of conclusions violates the central premise of the scientific method. As the conservative philosopher Karl Popper famously explained in his classic work The Logic of Scientific Discovery, science achieves a deeper understanding of the world precisely by vigorously challenging hypotheses, a process Popper dubbed as "falsification." For scientists, Popper wrote, the method of research is not to defend previous findings but "using all the weapons of our logical, mathematical, and technical armory" to "try to overthrow them." As Popper put it, "Those among us who are unwilling to expose their ideas to the hazard of refutation do not take part in the scientific game."
In this context, the reaction within the scientific community to the administration's actions is unsurprising. Pseudoscientific or "faith-based" interventions, in contradiction to observable evidence, are being promoted and funded with taxpayer money, while valuable lifesaving innovations are stifled or neglected. Many researchers now find their work censored by the administration, while others engage in self-censorship as a defense against losing their jobs. Many other scientists and technical specialists have left government service in despair or protest. The Centers for Disease Control have been hit particularly hard. As many as forty top CDC managers -- in career positions -- have left the agency since the start of the Bush administration, according to the Washington Post.
As serious as these effects are for scientists and the scientific community, the impact is even more grave for the health of the nation's democratic processes. Consider, for instance, the assessment in 2004 of Rep. Brian Baird (D-WA), a member of the House Science Committee: "In countless subtle and not so subtle ways," Baird contends, "the administration and Republican majorities who control the House and Senate are deliberately and systematically suppressing discussion and criticism and distorting the scientific process. The modalities of such distortions are manifold and collectively constitute nothing less than a coordinated attack on virtually every stage and aspect of the science/policy interaction."
In a campaign spanning virtually every federal agency, the Bush administration has employed an arsenal of tactics to undermine scientific integrity.
Subverting the Work of Government Scientists
By vesting unprecedented power in a small cadre of White House loyalists, the administration has censored and distorted the work of agency scientists throughout the government. As detailed in chapter 2, one of the clearest examples of this strategy has been to allow a close-knit group of industry-friendly nonscientists at the White House's Council on Environmental Quality to tightly control all scientific research conducted throughout the federal government on the issue of global warming. The administration has required that virtually every piece of scientific research and assessment on climate change funnel through this small, politically motivated group. In so doing, the White House has subverted the independence of federal agencies by making sure any scientific assessments released by the government conform to predetermined administration policy positions.
Suppressing Analyses That Diverge from Preferred Policy
Whether in science or other technical arenas, when dissenting analyses have surfaced within the federal government, the administration has frequently squelched them. This happened, for example, in November 2003, just before Congress voted in favor of the administration's massive Medicare reform bill. Richard Foster, the chief actuary for the federal Medicare program, sought to release to Congress his analysis showing that the bill would cost $500 billion to $600 billion over ten years, as much as $200 billion more than the White House's official estimate.
Thomas Scully, the administration's Medicare chief, threatened to fire Foster if he released his analysis. As a result, Congress passed a bill that was based on numbers the administration knew to be inaccurate. After the story broke but before Congress could complete its feckless investigation of Scully's behavior, he resigned to work as a lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry. As an editorial in the New York Times lamented after the deception came to light: "it is a terrible policy to deprive legislators of information they need to make informed choices."
Injecting Politics into Scientific Determinations
In many scientific arenas, the Bush administration has made a habit of injecting overtly political considerations into decisions that are normally debated on their scientific merits. As discussed in chapter 4, for example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is required by law to approve drugs that are found to be safe and effective. In an almost unprecedented repudiation of governmental scientific expertise, however, Steven Galson, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, overturned the recommendations of his own staff and two FDA advisory panels and refused to approve over-the-counter access to the emergency "morning-after" contraceptive pill levonorgestrel, sold under the brand name Plan B.
Although members of the two FDA scientific advisory committees had voted overwhelmingly to recommend over-the-counter access and stated that such a decision would present "no issues" of concern to women's health, the normal process of approval was circumvented. Through the intervention of Dr. David Hager, a highly controversial evangelist physician it had appointed to the FDA advisory panel, the Bush administration blocked easier access to this contraceptive and pandered to religious activists who oppose birth control.
Allowing Industry and Other Interest Groups to Interfere in Governmental Processes
The Bush administration has frequently allowed private industry representatives to intervene in -- and even dictate the outcome of -- governmental policymaking . For example, as detailed in chapter 5, reports by both the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the inspector general of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that top officials interfered with EPA scientists to suppress and distort analyses of mercury emissions from power plants. As part of this policymaking process, the EPA's proposed rule on mercury emissions contained no fewer than twelve paragraphs lifted, sometimes verbatim, from a legal document prepared by industry lawyers. Chagrined EPA officials explained that the language had crept into the preamble to their proposed rules "through the interagency process." But the example underscores the lack of public input in the process and the tight and often secret circles of influence that operate routinely in the current administration.
Stacking Scientific Advisory Panels
The Bush administration has dramatically politicized the process through which appointments are made to science advisory panels. Although the appointment process has always involved political considerations, past administrations have historically looked for some political breadth and great scientific depth. Such considerations have been virtually ignored in the current administration. In one well-documented case in 2002, Tommy Thompson, as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, summarily rejected three well-qualified ergonomics experts from a peer review panel at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The three nominees in question had been selected to join a study section of the Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health that evaluates research grants on workplace injuries. The committee chair and panel staff had chosen the three based on their credentials and reputations in the field, and the director of NIOSH had initially approved the appointments.
What makes this example so noteworthy is that so-called study sections are responsible for conducting peer review of ongoing research, not for advising on policy matters, and therefore changes of administration have almost never affected them. Traditionally, scientists in such positions are chosen strictly for their relevant expertise, just as their peer review work requires them to assess research solely based on its scientific merit. In this case, however, Thompson rejected at least two of the nominees because of their support for a workplace ergonomics standard, a policy opposed by the administration.
These are just a few examples of how the Bush administration has altered the way scientific and technical information is handled by the federal government. These changes have enormous and widespread effects on the practice of science within the government and in society at large:
They limit what questions scientists and other government staff are allowed to ask.
They place constraints on what methods can be used to seek answers.
They restrict the selection of who is permitted to ask questions, seek answers, or give advice in government agencies.
They suppress findings solely on the basis that they conflict with administration policies.
They sanction misleading and unjustified claims to bolster results that are "approved of" by the administration;
They routinely place ideologically rigid nonscientist supervisors in charge of government scientific research programs.
They have a chilling effect on the scientific community by exacting retribution, including dismissals, against scientists who ask unapproved questions or produce unapproved-of results.
