The White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is under fire this week, amid whistleblower allegations of attempting to silence federal scientists within matters pertaining to the agency's integrity guidelines.
Earlier this month, the OSTP issued a model scientific integrity policy — an initiative which includes a section which discourages contentious scientists "from making or publishing statements that could be construed as being judgments of, or recommendations on" federal policies, short of prior authorization.
The Agriculture Department instituted a similarly worded integrity policy, dissuading scientists from making policy judgments that might run contrary to the agency's agenda.
This prompted the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a watchdog and advocacy group, to publicly characterize the Biden administration's integrity provisions as a "gag rule."
"Any time a scientist wrote something that had any policy implications, it could be suppressed, which runs counter to the whole idea of a scientific integrity policy," said Jeff Ruch, the PEER group's Pacific director.
The industry whistleblower then reasoned that restricting federal scientists from commenting on policy runs opposite to the true meaning of having an agency-wide integrity policy. In America, freedom of expression should be embraced in the scientific community, added Ruch.
The OSTP offered a counter statement to PEER's integrity-based allegations, claiming "there is no gag rule."
"OSTP is working with Federal departments and agencies to ensure that Federal scientific integrity policies and practices support scientific communication with the media and the public, including the timely release of scientific information," the agency spokesperson said in a written statement.
Also, OSTP says the agency's new framework includes "ensuring that federal scientists can fully participate and communicate scientific information, free of interference."
Over the last two years, integrity concerns have been raised regarding the Biden administration's handling of various science-based concerns — most notably COVID-19 vaccine and masking mandates.
On Monday, President Joe Biden reportedly informed Congress the twin national emergencies surrounding COVID-19 would expire on May 11.
According to the Associated Press: "The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through the agencies' normal authorities."
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