Message Control to Major Tom: Will NASA End Censorship?

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NASA is touting a more accessible public information policy after acknowledging that a political appointee in its public information department attempted to silence one of the agency’s experts on climate change. The new policy clarifies the right of NASA experts and others to express their own opinions on policies without political vetting. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin says that the new policy will ensure that “(s)cientific and technical information concerning agency programs and projects will be accurate and unfiltered.” Washington D.C. watchdog OMBWatch isn’t so sure, stating that the new policy “sets the right tone” but “remains too vague and contains too many loopholes to fully function as a vehicle for public disclosure.” The policy does appear to resolve the original tempest: NASA physicist and climate expert James Hansen won’t be stopped from expressing his views to National Public Radio that the government isn’t acting aggressively enough to address global warming. The New York Times reported in January that a 26-year-old Bush appointee, George Deutsch, had blocked Hansen’s interview. Deutsch left the agency soon thereafter.