Seven members of the House Committee on Science, Space & Technology have submitted a letter to President Donald Trump expressing concern over his use of dubious scientific sources and calling for him to appoint a director to the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
In the letter, which was signed and submitted on Thursday, the representatives—all Democrats—referenced a Politico story published Monday, “How Trump Gets His Fake News,” as the impetus for their statements. The story alleged that Trump’s deputy national security adviser, K.T. McFarland, had slipped the president two printouts of Time magazine covers—one, supposedly from the 1970s, predicting a coming ice age, and another, from 2008, about global warming—to convince him of media hypocrisy on the topic of global warming. The 1970s cover, Politico reported, was a fake and an Internet hoax.
“Disseminating stories from dubious sources has been a recurring issue with your administration,” the letter states. “You have a tool at your disposal in this regard, should you wish to make use of it, in the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) which, under your administration, has been left largely unstaffed and without a director.”
The Office of Science and Technology Policy was originally created informally under President John F. Kennedy Jr. to advise the White House on policies pertaining to science and technology (at the time, that included the NASA Moon Mission). It was later officially established under the 1976 National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act.
The letter’s writers urged Trump to appoint a director whose views represent “the broader scientific community.” Until the department is adequately staffed, it continued, “we fear that you will continue to be vulnerable to misinformation and fake news.”
