It may not be as provocative as the war in Iraq or Social Security, but the Bush administration’s assault on science is about as disturbing as anything this gang has done. With this in mind, it’s encouraging to see the ACLU’s latest initiative.
The Bush administration’s response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks has dangerously undermined U.S. scientific enterprise and national security by abridging the constitutional and academic freedoms that have long fostered the nation’s technical superiority, according to a report released yesterday by the American Civil Liberties Union.
A dramatic increase in the designation of scientific documents as “classified”; the emergence of new, vaguely defined categories of “sensitive but not classified” information; inordinately strict constraints on foreign students — a mainstay of American science; and restricted access to equipment crucial to the advancement of U.S. research all represent overreactions to the terrorist threat and have left the nation less prepared for future challenges, said the 35-page report, “Science Under Siege.”
“Even at a time when fears of terrorism run so high — especially at such a time — we must resist the temptation to allow the crude, excessive and questionably effective regime of secrecy that dominates our security agencies to cloud the open operation and steady progress being made under our scientific tradition,” the ACLU report concluded.
The ACLU report, which is excellent, documents a disconcerting pattern, in which scientific information is suppressed when it conflicts with the Bush agenda and, what’s worse, outright censorship and prescreening of scientific articles before publication.
But my very favorite part of this story was the administration response.
Robert Hopkins of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy criticized the ACLU for seeking to politicize the issue.
You read that right. A Bush administration official was criticizing someone else for “politicizing” science. There was no indication that he was kidding.
The irony, of course, is that the Bush gang has pushed the politicization of science to unseen depths. These guys have mastered the practice. For these guys to accuse others of politicizing the issue is like Shaquille O’Neil accusing someone of being tall.
Maybe Hopkins forgot about the Union of Concerned Scientists — 62 of the nation’s top scholars, including 12 Nobel laureates — who denounced the Bush administration for “misrepresenting and suppressing scientific knowledge for political purposes.” And the deletion of references to global warming in government reports. And overriding scientists on endangered species, abortion, sexual health, the peer review process, stem-cell research,contraception, and air quality at Ground Zero in New York after 9/11.
Perhaps Hopkins might want to take a look at Henry Waxman’s report on Politics and Science in the Bush administration. I’m sure he’d find it interesting.