Dr. Rod Schoonover, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on 5 June 2019. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Associated Press
Dr. Rod Schoonover, adjunct professor at Georgetown University, at a House Intelligence Committee hearing on 5 June 2019. Photo: Andrew Harnik / Associated Press

By Lisa Friedman
8 June 2019

WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – The White House tried to stop a State Department senior intelligence analyst from discussing climate science in congressional testimony this week, internal emails and documents show.

The State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research declined to make changes to the proposed testimony and the analyst, Rod Schoonover, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, was ultimately allowed to speak before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on Wednesday.

But in a highly unusual move, the White House refused to approve Dr. Schoonover’s written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional Record. The reasoning, according to a 4 June 2019 email seen by The New York Times, was that the science did not match the Trump administration’s views.

Norman J. Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative policy group, said that it was common for the White House to vet agency testimony to Congress to ensure it did not contradict administration policy.

But, he said, “I have never heard of basic facts being deleted from or blocked from testimony.” Mr. Ornstein said withholding the analyst’s written testimony was significant. A verbal presentation could be interpreted as an individual’s position, he said, but “the written testimony is a more formal expression of a department.” […]

On almost every page of Dr. Schoonover’s testimony, the National Security Council offered comments and criticisms, according to a document that tracks changes. Two people familiar with the document said the notes were from William Happer, a physicist and White House adviser on the council who denies the established scientific consensus on global warming. […]

The heaviest proposed edits, and the basis for ultimately blocking the written testimony, came from the White House Office of Legislative Affairs. That office, according to the document, recommended eliminating five pages of science that appeared under the headings “Scientific Baseline” and “Stresses to Human and Societal Systems.” [more]

White House Tried to Stop Climate Science Testimony, Documents Show