Zero Accountability

Quality research benefits the country when it is sound, reliable, authentically peer-reviewed, paired with transparent access to data, and available to policy makers. Science is not science at all when outcomes are manipulated to reach ends predesigned by government employees carrying the federal mantle. Egregious examples around the nation highlight the devastating impacts to jobs and human safety caused by unaccountable federal bureaucracies that often engage in delay and denial. There is not a level playing field between agents of the federal government and private individuals, small businesses, or even local governments. The federal government's regulations and enforcement tools often enables it to outspend and outwait any possibility that outcomes inconsistent with their agenda will ultimately prevail in a dispute. Recent concerning examples suggest that the Department of the Interior has tolerated and failed to address, what one United States Senator called "abuse of science" within its sub-agencies' actions, and that employees were "emboldened" to "fabricate the science" to justify their purposes. Even more troubling, some employees were apparently rewarded for this behavior. Federal employees should be discouraged, not encouraged from engaging in "advocacy."