Washington, DC, February 7, 2023 — The White House’s new Model Scientific Integrity Plan touts the “free flow of scientific information,” including speaking with the media and filing “differing scientific opinions,” but provides no enforceable legal safeguards for scientists who face reprisal for doing so. That gap means scientists working on controversial topics will continue to do so at their professional peril and renders key provisions of the Model Policy largely toothless, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).
In a January 12, 2023 memo entitled “Delivery of the Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity Policy and Practice,” White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Arati Prabhakar told agencies that a new Model Policy sought, among other things, to implement six principles outlined in a similar effort by President Obama back in 2009. Under the principle regarding protection for scientists, the 2009 Obama order stated:
“Each agency should adopt such additional procedures, including any appropriate whistleblower protections, as are necessary to ensure the integrity of scientific and technological information and processes…” (Emphases added)
Biden’s OSTP, however, cut out the “additional procedures” language and instead urges adoption of circular language that agencies should merely obey the current Whistleblower Protection Act. This approach repeats the same mistake committed by Obama’s OSTP in that –
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