POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL CLIMATE SCIENCE

The document provides a detailed breakdown of survey responses from 279 federal climate scientists across seven U.S. agencies. It assesses perceptions of scientific integrity, the quality of federal climate research, and specific instances of political interference. Key data points include a majority of respondents viewing the environment for federal climate science as worse than it was 5 or 10 years ago, and various reported experiences of pressure to alter scientific findings or terminology.

• A significant majority of surveyed federal climate scientists believe the environment for government climate science has deteriorated over the long term, with 67% stating it is worse than 5 years ago and 64% stating it is worse than 10 years ago.
• While 88% of respondents generally seek to publish in peer-reviewed literature and 88% (combining 'strongly agree' and 'agree') believe U.S. federal government climate research is of generally excellent quality, 53% disagree or strongly disagree that the U.S. government has done a good job funding this research.
• Regarding personal experience with interference, 22% of scientists reported experiencing changes or edits during review that altered the meaning of scientific findings, and 22% reported experiencing the disappearance or unusual delay of science-based materials.
• Job satisfaction among the surveyed group has declined, with 45% of respondents stating their personal job satisfaction at their agency has decreased over the past few years.
• A majority of respondents (71%) agree or strongly agree that their agency's leadership aspires to and expects a high level of integrity and professionalism, yet 43% disagree or strongly disagree that climate science at their agency is moving in the right direction.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2006). POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL CLIMATE SCIENCE. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/full-survey-instrument-with-responses-1.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL CLIMATE SCIENCE. 2006. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/full-survey-instrument-with-responses-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL CLIMATE SCIENCE |date=2006 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/full-survey-instrument-with-responses-1.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2006political, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{POLITICAL INTERFERENCE IN FEDERAL CLIMATE SCIENCE}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2006}, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/full-survey-instrument-with-responses-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }