PRESS

The first revamped agency scientific integrity policy crafted under a Biden initiative leaves a lot to be desired, according to comments submitted by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and a coalition of ten public health, transparency, and environmental groups.

The undersigned 136 organizations committed to good government principles across political affiliations are united by our desire for accountability for taxpayer-funded government activities. We support credible free speech rights for whistleblowers who expose fraud, waste of funds or abuse of authority in federal spending.

Most state and local officials worked tirelessly — often at risk to their own health and lives — to protect the public. But as was true at the federal level, senior state and local officials repeatedly failed to live up to the trust the public placed in them. Across the country, state and local leaders meddled in research and data and retaliated against experts in order to improve their political standing and cover up mismanagement.

The first agency within the Biden administration to rewrite its policy to protect career federal scientists from political influence as required by the White House has taken some positive steps, according to a conglomerate of watchdog groups, but is still falling short of ensuring its workers do not face reprisal and bad actors are held accountable.

Recently, invasive open records requests, defamation lawsuits, and other misuses of the legal system threaten climate scientists’ ability to freely conduct research and openly share it with the public.

"Hacking is the most invasive risk, but it’s not the only way that scientists’ data, research, and emails may be released publicly. My colleagues and I have seen scientists targeted with legal methods, most notably by groups and individuals using open records laws to seek thousands of emails."

"[S]ocial media has been a tool to try to silence scientists. It can be a very powerful tool for public education, but the ways in which people can sign up for social media accounts anonymously, or use bots, can definitely create a very aggressive, nasty pile-on effect."

"The main thing I would note with the Biden administration is it has been much better than Trump administration, but it has not been as good as I might have hoped. There's been some real opportunities for reform that I think have been missed. And there have been some continuing problems that haven't been rectified."

“Open records laws have a vital role in government transparency but, in the specific realm  of higher education, they also can be exploited by bad actors to harass and intimidate scientists and academics whose research they dislike.”