http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0216nasa0216.html

Workers say NASA censored news in '04

Andrew C. Revkin New York Times Feb. 16, 2006 12:00 AM

Top political appointees in the NASA press office exerted strong pressure during the 2004 presidential campaign to cut the flow of news releases on glaciers, climate, pollution and other earth sciences, public-affairs officers at the agency say.

The disclosure comes nearly two weeks after the NASA administrator, Michael Griffin, called for "scientific openness" at the agency.

In response to that call, researchers and public affairs workers have described how political appointees altered or limited news releases on scientific findings that could have conflicted with administration policies.

Press officers, who were granted anonymity because they said they were still concerned for their jobs despite Griffin's call for openness, said much of the pressure in late 2004 was placed on Gretchen Cook-Anderson.

At the time, Cook-Anderson was in charge of managing the flow of earth-science news at NASA headquarters.

In a conference call with colleagues in October 2004, the colleagues said, she said that Glenn Mahone, then the assistant administrator for public affairs, had told her that a planned news conference on fresh readings by a new NASA satellite, Aura, that measures ozone and air pollution, should not take place until after the election.

In an e-mail message on Wednesday, Cook-Anderson, who now works as a writer and editor for NASA through a contractor, said, "While I can't discuss these matters, I won't disagree with that description of what took place."

Mahone has since left NASA. He did not return several calls seeking comment on Wednesday.