President Biden Orders Review of Scientific Integrity Across Executive Branch
“It is the policy of my Administration to make evidence-based decisions guided by the best available science and data,” asserted President Joe Biden in a new executive memorandum requiring sweeping review and implementation of science-based policies and practices across the executive branch. The January 27, 2021 memo “reaffirms and builds on” prior Obama administration memoranda on scientific integrity.
President Biden’s action creates a task force led by the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). This Task Force on Scientific Integrity has120 days to review and issue a report on the effectiveness of existing agency scientific-integrity policies. Federal agencies will have 180 days after the publication of the task force’s report to submit new or revised scientific-integrity policies to OSTP for review and comment. Agencies will then be required to publish their finalized policies on their websites and through their social media accounts.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is directed to, within 120 days of the issuance of the memorandum, issue guidance to improve agencies’ evidence-building plans and annual evaluation plans. OMB will consider whether those plans should include broad methodologies to develop and evaluate agency policies, programs, and operations.
All agencies will be required to designate a senior career employee as the agency’s lead scientific-integrity official to oversee the agency’s implementation of the executive memorandum. Additionally, agencies that fund, conduct, or oversee scientific research are required to designate a chief science officer to advise on scientific issues and ensure the scientific integrity of agency programs.
Although President Biden’s memorandum reiterates policies already required by law and in Obama administration memos, many in the scientific policy and research community welcome the order. For example, the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund applauded the memorandum for “bringing science back into the federal decision-making processes.”
Still, some prominent voices are waiting for results before declaring President Biden’s actions a victory. The memorandum is “an encouraging start,” said Dr. Andrew A. Rosenberg, director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, “Over the next four years, scientists, public health experts and community advocates will be watching closely to make sure that the Biden administration upholds its promise to heed the science.”
OSTP will publish a biennial report on agency implementation of the memorandum.
