FILE - In this Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2019, file photo, President Donald Trump talks with reporters after receiving a briefing on Hurricane Dorian in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington. A new 46-person federal scientific integrity task force with members from dozens of government agencies will meet for the first time Friday, May 14, 2021. During Sharpiegate, NOAA reprimanded some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by the hurricane, contradicting the president, who said Alabama was in danger. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Photo: Associated Press By SETH BORENSTEIN AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — Eager to the turn the page on the Trump years, the Biden White House is launching an effort to unearth past problems with the politicization of science within government and to tighten scientific integrity rules for the future. A new 46-person federal scientific integrity task force with members from more than two dozen government agencies will meet for the first time on Friday.
Droegemeier said the White House science office, where Nelson and Lubchenco now work and where he used to be, is more about policy and does not have the authority to investigate or enforce rules. Last week, Republican legislators accused the Biden White House of playing politics with science when it removed climate scientist Betsy Wetherhead, who had been praised by atmospheric scientists, from heading the national climate assessment. Lubchenco said it was normal for a new administration to bring in new people. Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley said the Biden administration is trying hard but isn't approaching the task of restoring science quite right. "It's impossible to keep politics out of science, " Brinkley said. "But you can do your best to mitigate it. " He said that only looking as far back as the Obama and Trump administrations will doom the task force's efforts not to be politicized itself and looked at in a partisan way. What's really needed, Brinkley said, is to "get to the root of things" and look back as far as 1945.
During Sharpiegate, the NOAA reprimanded some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by the hurricane, contradicting President Donald Trump, who said Alabama was in danger. The matter became known as Sharpiegate after someone in the White House used a black Sharpie — a favorite pen of Trump's — to alter the official National Hurricane Center warning map to indicate Alabama could be in the path of the storm. A 2020 inspector general report found the administration had violated scientific integrity rules. The Sharpiegate case revealed flaws in the scientific integrity system set up in 2009 by President Barack Obama, Lubchenco said. There were no consequences when the agency violated the rules, Lubchenco said. Nor were there consequences for NOAA's parent Cabinet agency, the Commerce Department. That's why President Joe Biden's administration is calling for scientific integrity rules throughout government and not just in science-oriented agencies, she said. Lubchenco said a reluctance to fight climate change in the last four years has delayed progress in cutting emissions of heat-trapping gases.
Droegemeier said the White House science office, where Nelson and Lubchenco now work and where he used to be, is more about policy and does not have the authority to investigate or enforce rules. Last week, Republican legislators accused the Biden White House of playing politics with science when it removed climate scientist Betsy Weatherhead, who had been praised by atmospheric scientists, from heading the national climate assessment. Lubchenco said it was normal for a new administration to bring in new people. Rice University historian Douglas Brinkley said the Biden administration is trying hard but isn't approaching the task of restoring science quite right. "It's impossible to keep politics out of science, " Brinkley said. "But you can do your best to mitigate it. " He said that only looking as far back as the Obama and Trump administrations will doom the task force's efforts not to be politicized itself and looked at in a partisan way. What's really needed, Brinkley said, is to "get to the root of things" and look back as far as 1945.
Both Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, and John F. Kennedy, a Democrat, elevated science efforts and tried to keep out the politics. But Brinkley said that with the onset of the environmental movement, the distraction of the Vietnam War and corporations seeing science as leading to too much regulation during the Reagan era, a unified public admiration for science fell apart. Harvard's Oreskes said her research indicated Ronald Reagan was "the first president in the modern era to exhibit disregard and at times even contempt for scientific evidence. " The new task force will focus more on the future than the past, Nelson said. "Every agency is being asked to really demonstrate that they are making decisions that are informed by the best available research evidence, " Nelson said. One of the four task force co-chairs is Francesca Grifo, scientific integrity officer for the Environmental Protection Agency since 2013. She clashed with the Trump EPA, which would not allow her to testify at a 2019 congressional hearing about scientific integrity.
The others are Anne Ricciuti, deputy director for science at the Education Department's Institute of Education Sciences; Craig Robinson, director of the Office of Science Quality and Integrity at the U. S. Geological Survey; and Jerry Sheehan, deputy director of the National Library of Medicine. ___ This story has been corrected to show the climate scientist's surname is Weatherhead, not Wetherhead.
"The time now is to enjoy what I've been working for, " he said. "Without music life is meaningless. " But his long-term plans are skipping a big beat. "My right hand felt weak so I went to the doctor, " Fritz said. "He said you have ALS. You need to get your affairs in order. " ALS robs a patient of muscle function. Life expectancy three to five years and there is no known cure. "It is progressive, " Fritz said. "Don't know what causes it. Don't know how to stop it. " Since his diagnosis in 2018 his movements have slowed by the month. "It is harder to eat, " he said. "I do the best I can. " But Ken's ears and mind remain sharp. "I never go to bed feeling like hell, " Fritz said. "I wish today was over. That never happens. " "It's hard to explain, " friend Paul Gibson added. "To get to this point in your life and be able to sit down and enjoy it it is heartbreaking. Quite emotional. " Ken Fritz hopes that someone will cherish his custom stereo system long after he is gone. "The best goals are the goals you work for over a long period of time, " Fritz said.
Lubchenco, who led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the Obama administration, pointed to an incident during the Trump years that became known as "Sharpiegate" as a clear example of "political interference with scientific information that was potentially extraordinarily dangerous. " During Sharpiegate, the NOAA reprimanded some meteorologists for tweeting that Alabama was not threatened by the hurricane, contradicting President Donald Trump, who said Alabama was in danger. The matter became known as Sharpiegate after someone in the White House used a black Sharpie — a favorite pen of Trump's — to alter the official National Hurricane Center warning map to indicate Alabama could be in the path of the storm. A 2020 inspector general report found the administration had violated scientific integrity rules. The Sharpiegate case revealed flaws in the scientific integrity system set up in 2009 by President Barack Obama, Lubchenco said. There were no consequences when the agency violated the rules, Lubchenco said.