Staff writer Juliet Eilperin with yet another account, with solid reporting, of White House interference with the ability of federal employees who also happen to be scientists to say openly what they think about recent research in their fields, including research they’ve done themselves, and even if they disagree with rationales for executive branch policies. The issue has been simmering for several years, heated up last year with the book “The Republican War on Science,” and got stirred most recently with Andrew Revkin’s revelation in NYTimes that NASA’s James Hansen ran into a 24-year-old p.r. man who tried to stifle him (fat chance). This is a good rundown, with quotes from both administrators and aggrieved researchers, and some evidence of double-talk from the bosses.
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