NASA officials censored and suppressed scientific data on global warming in order to protect the Bush administration from controversy close to the 2004 presidential election, an internal investigation has found.
A 93-page report by the space agency's Office of the Inspector General reveals that personnel in the agency's public affairs office were guilty of "inappropriate political interference" in their attempts to play down climate change findings.
Th
e staff, who were appointed by the White House, "marginalised or mischaracterised" studies on global warming between 2004 and 2006, denying media access to top global warming scientist James Hansen, cancelling a press conference about a space mission that was set to monitor ozone pollution and, on more than a dozen occasions, unilaterally edited or downgraded press releases on climate change.
Nasa's top management was not part of the censorship, nor were career officials within the department, the report noted. The problem centred on two names who have subsequently left Nasa – one of whom, the agency's former press secretary Dean Acosta, now works for the aeronautical giant Boeing.
"Climate change scientists and the majority of career Public Affairs Officers strongly believe that the alleged actions taken by senior Nasa headquarters public affairs officials intended to systematically portray Nasa in a light most favourable to administration policies at the expense of reporting unfiltered research results," the report concludes.
Mendacious officials "managed the topic of climate change in a manner that reduced, marginalised, or mischaracterised climate change science made available to the general public," it noted.
The report – which was drawn up at the request of 14 senators concerned at Nasa's censorship – concluded that "inappropriate political posturing or advantage" was behind some of the actions, prompting criticism yesterday on Capitol Hill.
"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," complained the Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg.
At the heart of the issue is Mr Hansen, head of Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and arguably the world's leading global warming researcher. He has long campaigned for more stringent limits on greenhouse gases – views that are considered politically embarrassing. He cites the accelerating rate of ice-thaw in the Arctic and Antarctic as proof that global warming is harming the planet – and argues that the causes are man-made because of the ozone-depleting carbon dioxide that is emitted from fossil fuels.
He theorises that man has less than a decade to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the levels reach a "tipping point" that cannot be reversed.
His interaction with the public and media had been subjected to what he claimed was censorship after he made a speech in 2005 that complained: "I find a willingness to listen only to those portions of scientific results that fit predetermined inflexible positions. This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster."
Nasa downplayed the report yesterday, saying that it related to a problem that has since been fixed and that the agency's new policies have now been hailed for openness by the US Government Accountability Office.
Mr 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," he said.
The report came as the Senate opened debate on climate change legislation, which could see new measures to cap the production of greenhouse gases – a move that the Bush administration is opposed to.
