Surveying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

A 2018 survey of 1,158 NOAA scientists indicates that while a majority believe the agency adheres to its scientific integrity policy, there are significant concerns regarding the influence of business interests and political censorship of climate change research. Specifically, 38% of respondents believe business interests hinder science-based decisionmaking, and 10% reported being asked to omit the phrase "climate change" from their work. Despite these challenges, 67% of scientists felt their direct supervisors support scientifically defensible positions that may be politically contentious, an increase from 56% in 2015.

• A majority of surveyed NOAA scientists believe the agency follows its scientific integrity policy, with 48% agreeing and 16% strongly agreeing.
• There is significant concern regarding the influence of industry on agency decisions: 38% of respondents stated that a focus on business interests hinders science-based decisionmaking, and 29% believe senior decisionmakers from industry or with financial stakes in regulatory outcomes inappropriately influence decisions.
• Political censorship of climate change language was reported by 10% of respondents (108 people), who stated they were asked or told to omit the phrase "climate change" from their work.
• Support from direct supervisors for scientists presenting politically contentious but scientifically defensible positions increased from 56% in 2015 to 67% in 2018.
• The perception that scientists can share findings with the public and media regardless of political contentiousness improved from 32% in 2015 to 42% in 2018.

APA

Hansen, K. (2018). Surveying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/science-under-trump-noaa.pdf

Chicago

Hansen, Kathryn. Surveying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2018. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/science-under-trump-noaa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Hansen |first1=Kathryn |title=Surveying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=August 2018 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/science-under-trump-noaa.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hansen2018surveying, author = {Hansen, Kathryn}, title = {{Surveying the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/science-under-trump-noaa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }