[Vision2020] Watchdog: NASA misled on global warming studies

[Chasuk]

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/02/nasa.global.warming.ap/index.html

WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA's press office "marginalized or
mischaracterized" studies on global warming between 2004 and 2006, the
agency's own internal watchdog concluded.

In a report released Monday, NASA's inspector general office called it
"inappropriate political interference" by political appointees in the
press office. It said the agency's top management wasn't part of the
censorship, nor were career officials.

NASA downplayed the report as old news on a problem that has since
been fixed. NASA spokesman Michael Cabbage said the space agency's new
policies have been hailed for openness by the U.S. Government
Accountability Office.

The report found credence in allegations that National Public Radio
was denied access to top global warming scientist James Hansen. It
also found evidence that NASA headquarters press officials canceled a
press conference on a mission monitoring ozone pollution and global
warming because it was too close to the 2004 presidential election.

In addition, the report detailed more than a dozen other actions in
which it said the NASA public affairs office unilaterally edited or
downgraded press releases having to do with global warming or denied
access to scientists.

NASA public affairs officials criticized by the report called it
wrong, saying they were always open and truthful.

Not so, according to the report. The report did not directly accuse
them of lying, but used more nuanced terms such as "mendacity" and
"dissembling." The space agency complained those terms were unjust.

The report concluded that "inappropriate political posturing or
advantage" was behind some of these actions.

NASA and the Bush administration instantly drew criticism as a result
of the report.

"Our government's response to global warming must be based on science,
and the Bush administration's manipulation of that information
violates the public trust," said Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-New
Jersey.

Mark Bowen, who wrote a book on NASA and Hansen, faulted the report's
finding that NASA administrator Michael Griffin and the White House
weren't involved in manipulation.

"So many honest people inside NASA and out have demonstrated
censorship has occurred," Bowen said.

In its response, NASA's legal office noted that the report showed that
actual research on global warming was not interfered with, and that
neither NASA senior management nor other senior administration
officials were involved.

"The legitimate conclusions ... are those that NASA has already
acknowledged and has long since fixed," deputy counsel Keith Sefton
wrote in response.

NASA's former press secretary, Dean Acosta, who was accused of telling
underlings that there were "too many" global warming news releases,
denied manipulations.

"My entire career has been dedicated to open and honest
communications," said Acosta, now a spokesman for aerospace giant
Boeing Co. "The inspector general's assertions are patently false."

NASA's overall head of public affairs, David Mould, who was also
criticized, said the report "got a number of things wrong... I didn't
see things that were politically influenced." But Mould also pointed
to changes in policy he made after the allegations first came out in
2006, saying "I'm proud of the improvements we made."