George Deutsch, Up and Coming PAO Politico
NASA Chief Backs Agency Openness, NY Times
“In October, for example, George Deutsch, a presidential appointee in NASA headquarters, told a Web designer working for the agency to add the word “theory” after every mention of the Big Bang, according to an e-mail message from Mr. Deutsch that another NASA employee forwarded to The Times.”
“… The Big Bang memo came from Mr. Deutsch, a 24-year-old presidential appointee in the press office at NASA headquarters whose rsum says he was an intern in the “war room” of the 2004 Bush-Cheney re-election campaign. A 2003 journalism graduate of Texas A&M, he was also the public-affairs officer who sought more control over Dr. Hansen’s public statements.”
“… The Big Bang is “not proven fact; it is opinion,” Mr. Deutsch wrote, adding, “It is not NASA’s place, nor should it be to make a declaration such as this about the existence of the universe that discounts intelligent design by a creator.” It continued: “This is more than a science issue, it is a religious issue. And I would hate to think that young people would only be getting one-half of this debate from NASA. That would mean we had failed to properly educate the very people who rely on us for factual information the most.”
Editor’s note: George Deutsch got his job at NASA was a reward for being a loyal young republican. Otherwise, based on his reported comments in this and other articles – and I’m just guessing folks – but it would seem that he did not take very many science classes in college – political science perhaps. Not exactly the ideal background for someone whose job it is to communicate science. Perhaps we can get George to detail his background for us – and why he thinks that he knows more about the topic than the people who actually do the research.
Personally I think George is in over his head. Based on the quotes in this article he is pursuing his own personal political/religious agenda – at taxpayer expense. What’s even more annoying is the fact that George seems to have been operating without any adult supervision by NASA PAO – or has the White House really directed NASA to do the things that George has been doing?.
NASA Internal Memo: Message From the Administrator – Scientific Openness
“Second, the job of the Office of Public Affairs, at every level in NASA, is to convey the work done at NASA to our stakeholders in an intelligible way. It is not the job of public affairs officers to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA’s technical staff.”
Editor’s note: If Mike Griffin is truly serious about communicating science in a quality, objective fashion (and I think he is) then a first good step would be to fire George Deutsch – now.
