| October 30, 2007 |  |
House Panel to Hold Hearing Tomorrow on NASA Suppression of Airline Pilot Survey
Agency Should Release Survey Results, Says Science Advocacy Group
Early last week the Associated Press (AP) reported that NASA is withholding the results of a nationwide survey of pilots on airline safety problems, fearing the findings would undermine public confidence and hurt airline profits. Tomorrow, October 31, the House Science and Technology Committee will hold a hearing to try to determine why the agency has been sitting on the survey results for more than a year.
The hearing will take place at 1:30 pm in 2318 Rayburn House Office Building and will be available live on the Internet at www.science.house.gov. The first witness will be NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.
"Americans must have access to the results of taxpayer-funded scientific studies," said Francesca Grifo, senior scientist and director of the Scientific Integrity Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "Federal agencies have a responsibility to provide the public with information that has public safety consequences. Whether or not information was suppressed for political reasons, this incident highlights the need for more transparency in the federal government's handling of scientific information.
"Just last week, the White House came under fire for censoring the Centers for Disease Control director's written testimony on the health consequences of global warming," she added. "Considering this track record, the administration should be bending over backward to make sure critical scientific information reaches the public."
NASA spent nearly four years to conduct telephone surveys of some 8,000 commercial and general aviation pilots, asking them about near misses in the air and on runways and cases in which air traffic controllers changed landing instructions at the last second. The AP tried unsuccessfully to obtain the survey results under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) over a 14-month period.
NASA Administrator Griffin told the AP that his agency will reconsider the news organization's FOIA request. "NASA should focus on how we can provide information to the public, not on how we can withhold it," he said in a statement. The agency's research and data "should be widely available and subject to review and scrutiny."
UCS's Grifo was hopeful, but skeptical. "NASA Administrator Griffin's statement that data should be 'widely available and subject to review and scrutiny,' is encouraging," she said, "if it ever happens."
The Union of Concerned Scientists puts rigorous, independent science to work to solve our planet's most pressing problems. Joining with citizens across the country, we combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future.
