White House suppressed science congressional testimony

White House officials prevented Rod Schoonover, a senior analyst at the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, from submitting written testimony to the House Intelligence Committee because it contained scientific information on climate change. Despite the hearing's focus on the national security implications of climate change, officials from the Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council removed sections titled "Scientific Baseline" and "Stresses to Human and Societal Systems." The document asserts that this suppression was driven by a desire to align testimony with the Trump administration's positions and was supported by climate science deniers like William Happer. The suppression included the removal of data from the IPCC, NASA, and NOAA, with White House officials characterizing scientific consensus as "climate-alarm propaganda."

• White House officials blocked the written testimony of State Department analyst Rod Schoonover to the House Intelligence Committee specifically to remove scientific information on climate change, though they eventually allowed him to testify verbally.
• The suppressed information was based on data from federal agencies including NASA and NOAA, as well as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• White House officials from the Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, and the National Security Council objected to the testimony, with some claiming it did not align with the administration's position or the intelligence community's coordinated position.
• The White House removed two specific sections of the testimony—"Scientific Baseline" and "Stresses to Human and Societal Systems"—which linked national security threats to climate change, despite the hearing being titled "The National Security Implications of Climate Change."
• Officials within the White House National Security Council dismissed scientific consensus as "climate-alarm propaganda" and claimed that peer-reviewed literature is unrelated to truth.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2019). White House suppressed science congressional testimony. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-suppressed-science-congressional-testimony

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. White House suppressed science congressional testimony. 2019. https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-suppressed-science-congressional-testimony.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=White House suppressed science congressional testimony |date=19 June 2019 |url=https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-suppressed-science-congressional-testimony |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2019white, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{White House suppressed science congressional testimony}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2019}, month = jun, url = {https://www.ucs.org/resources/attacks-on-science/white-house-suppressed-science-congressional-testimony}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }