Protecting Government Science from Political Interference

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) analyzed 38 US federal agencies to evaluate their adherence to the 2021 presidential memorandum on scientific integrity. The analysis focused on three metrics: the publication of updated scientific integrity policies, the public designation of a senior career scientific integrity official, and the publication of annual reports on scientific integrity investigations. The findings indicate widespread non-compliance, with a majority of agencies failing to meet all three criteria by mid-2024.

• A significant majority of the 38 examined federal agencies have failed to publish a new or updated scientific integrity policy as required by the 2021 memorandum; specifically, 28 agencies had not yet published such a policy.
• Compliance regarding the designation of a scientific integrity official is low, with 24 of the 38 agencies failing to publicly name an official and 16 agencies failing to provide contact information for such an official.
• Most agencies are not meeting the requirement to publish annual reports on scientific integrity violations; 26 of the 38 agencies had not published this information, and only the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the Department of Labor (DOL) had published reports for the prior year (2023).
• The analysis targeted 38 agencies that have all been linked to at least one instance of 'attacks on science' recorded in a UCS database covering the Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden administrations, which contains 326 such entries.
• While the 2023 OSTP framework requires agencies to survey employees to assess scientific integrity, the EPA and USGS are noted as leaders in this specific area, with the EPA conducting surveys in 2016, 2018, and 2021, and the USGS in 2020 and 2022.

APA

Desikan, A. (2024). Protecting Government Science from Political Interference. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/Protecting-Government-Science-from-Political-Interference_Appendix.pdf

Chicago

Desikan, Anita. Protecting Government Science from Political Interference. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2024. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/Protecting-Government-Science-from-Political-Interference_Appendix.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Desikan |first1=Anita |title=Protecting Government Science from Political Interference |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=September 2024 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/Protecting-Government-Science-from-Political-Interference_Appendix.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{desikan2024protecting, author = {Desikan, Anita}, title = {{Protecting Government Science from Political Interference}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2024}, month = sep, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2024-09/Protecting-Government-Science-from-Political-Interference_Appendix.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }