This just in!
George Deutsch, the NASA public affairs officer who knew too little, has resigned his post at NASA. Dean Acosta, another PAO, said that NASA doesn’t discuss personal issues, but it’s clear why Deutsch had to quit: he lied on his resume. As Nick Anthis from the blog “The Scientific Activist” discovered, Deutsch did not graduate from Texas A&M as he claimed. He left the school before graduating, since he was offered the NASA position by the Bush administration.
Andrew Revkin of the New York Times, who broke the original story about Deutsch, has the goods this time as well:
According to his résumé, Mr. Deutsch received a “Bachelor of Arts in journalism, Class of 2003.”AdvertisementYesterday, officials at Texas A&M said that was not the case.
[…]
A copy of Mr. Deutsch’s résumé was provided to The Times by someone working in NASA headquarters who, along with many other NASA employees, said Mr. Deutsch played a small but significant role in an intensifying effort at the agency to exert political control over the flow of information to the public.
Revkin credits blogger Nick Anthis for discovering Deutsch’s lie, so let it never be said that bloggers are incidental in the journalism game. Nick, the BA’s hat’s off to you. Nice work.
I know this won’t stop the political practice of putting unqualified people into positions of influence over science, but you know what? Every little bit helps.
Score one for the good guys, folks.
