NASA Employees Can Now Invoke The Hansen Precedent

NASA’s Chief Climate Scientist Stirs Controversy With Call for Civil Disobedience, Fox
“NASA’s chief climate scientist is in hot water with colleagues and at least one lawmaker after calling on citizens to engage in civil disobedience at what is being billed as the largest public protest of global warming ever in the United States. In a video on capitolclimateaction.org, Dr. James Hansen is seen urging Americans to “take a stand on global warming” during the March 2 protest at the Capitol Power Plant in Southeast Washington, D.C. … … “Jim Hansen is performing a tremendous job at communicating our science to the public and, more importantly, to policymakers and decision-makers,” Franco Einaudi, director of the Earth Sciences Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said in a press release.”
Top NASA Climate Scientist Favors Capitol Climate Action, PlanetSave
“But NASA is defending Hansen’s right as a private citizen to engage in the campaign. “He’s doing this as a private citizen on his own time and there’s nothing wrong with that,” said NASA spokesman Mark Hess. “There’s nothing partisan here. You don’t give up your rights to free speech by becoming a government employee.”
Editor’s note: I guess this is about as clear a signal as any NASA employee can expect to get that they can now speak out publicly – with attribution – about any topic they wish – including overtly work-related topics – without any fear of reprimand, sanction, or criticism from their management, right? Very important – if it is true, that is.
Why not push the envelope and see what happens? If your boss comes after you, just cite the Hansen precedent.