Presidential Recommendations for 2020

The Union of Concerned Scientists argues that the Trump administration engaged in unprecedented attacks on science, including censorship and the sidelining of experts. The report proposes a blueprint for the next administration based on three principles: independent science, transparent decisionmaking, and scientific free speech. Key recommendations include codifying scientific integrity policies, reforming the federal advisory committee system, curbing conflicts of interest for political appointees, and expanding whistleblower protections. It also addresses broader democratic threats, such as 'dark money' in politics and voting rights restrictions, as interconnected issues affecting public health and safety.

• The Union of Concerned Scientists tracked 123 attacks on science during the first three years of the Trump administration, which included the censorship of scientific language, the suppression or alteration of studies, and a failure to consider science when proposing or rolling back regulations.
• There is a significant disparity in the filling of scientific leadership positions; while Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush filled nearly all such roles in their first three years, President Trump left nearly half of these positions vacant.
• Existing scientific integrity policies are insufficient because they are not codified in federal law and vary significantly across the 28 federal agencies, bureaus, and departments that have them in terms of scope and enforcement.
• The Trump administration has actively undermined the role of independent experts by requiring agencies to reduce the number of their advisory committees by at least one-third via a June 2019 Executive Order.
• Environmental justice efforts have been weakened, evidenced by the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice reducing community research grants by 70 percent in its first two years compared to the previous administration's first two years.
• Political interference has led to the suppression of critical health and safety data, such as the EPA stalling the release of scientific assessments by the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) since June 2018.
• The administration has used 'transparency' rules as a tool to exclude valid science; for example, a proposed EPA rule and a DOI order would restrict the use of studies where raw data cannot be made public, which would block the use of sensitive health data or endangered species location data.
• Conflicts of interest have increased due to the appointment of former lobbyists to cabinet-level positions, with the report citing instances where officials worked on policies that benefited their former clients.
• Federal scientists have faced direct retaliation for communicating scientific facts, including a Joshua Tree National Park superintendent being reprimanded for tweeting about climate change and threats to fire National Weather Service meteorologists who corrected false statements about Hurricane Dorian.
• Democratic processes are being eroded by 'dark money' and the ineffectiveness of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC), which has suffered from partisan deadlock and vacancies that left it without a quorum since August 2019.

APA

Union of Concerned Scientists (2020). Presidential Recommendations for 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/presidential-recommendations-for-2020_0.pdf

Chicago

Union of Concerned Scientists. Presidential Recommendations for 2020. 2020. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/presidential-recommendations-for-2020_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Union of Concerned Scientists |title=Presidential Recommendations for 2020 |date=January 2020 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/presidential-recommendations-for-2020_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{unionofconcernedscientists2020presidential, author = {{Union of Concerned Scientists}}, title = {{Presidential Recommendations for 2020}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2020}, month = jan, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2020-01/presidential-recommendations-for-2020_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }