A Nasa public affairs officer who worked on George Bush’s re-election campaign and was linked to a campaign to stifle discussion by space agency scientists on global warming, has resigned. George Deutsch (24) was given a job in the Nasa press office last year after working on Bush’s 2004 presidential campaign. He resigned after it emerged he had not been awarded the journalism degree he claimed on his CV, the New York Times reported.
Deutsch had been described as a ”bit player” in a politically motivated campaign to stop scientists from speaking publicly on global warming or giving interviews to the media. Scientists were also ordered to remove a posting from the agency’s website which showed that 2005 was the warmest year on record. He also repeatedly told a web designer to add the word ”theory” at every mention of ”big bang”.
The New York Times quoted a Nasa source as saying his involvement was part of an intensifying effort at the agency to exert political control over the flow of public information. The effort antagonised Nasa’s most senior scientists, and last week prompted Michael Griffin, the agency’s administrator, to offer a review of information policy, and a renewed commitment to ”scientific openness”.
Deutsch resigned after Texas A&M University said he attended the institution but had not completed the course.
In an e-mail last October Deutsch wrote: ”The theory that the universe was created by a ‘big bang’ is just that — a theory. It is not proven fact; it is opinion. Yes, the scientific community by and large may share this opinion, but that doesn’t make it correct … It is not Nasa’s place, nor should it be, to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator — the other half of the argument.” – Guardian Unlimited Â