Dear Larry,

More than a year ago, President Obama directed his science advisor, Dr. John Holdren, to develop recommendations that would guarantee scientific integrity throughout the federal government. Since that time, Dr. Holden's Office of Science and Technology Policy has been virtually silent on the issue. It's time for citizens like you to ask the administration to fulfill its promise.

Dr. Holdren recently launched a web feature that allows members of the public to use email or Twitter to ask a question about the president’s science priorities. Please take two minutes right now to send a message asking why there has been such a delay and encouraging the administration to deliver on its scientific integrity plan.

You can send an email to Dr. Holdren; however, due to its public nature, it’s even better if you send the message via Twitter (and it’s simple to register).

How to Engage Via Twitter
You might think that Twitter is full of updates on what people had for lunch and the latest celebrity gossip, but, while that’s definitely there, Twitter is also an important tool for breaking news stories and public discourse on the issues we care about. Twitter gives people a public platform to communicate with corporations, news leaders, policy makers and more. That’s why I would prefer you use Twitter—it is public and allows us to demonstrate that there continues to be support for reform.

To engage Dr. Holdren and the administration via Twitter, they’ve asked that questions get directed to @whitehouseostp using the #AskDrH hashtag. The @ symbol allows you to address a particular user—in this case, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy—while a hashtag is a word with a # prefix that helps group together all the posts, or “tweets,” on the same subject. (For instance, you can search for #AskDrH to see what questions other people are tweeting to Dr. Holdren.). If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can sign-up here.

You can click here to post the following tweet: @whitehouseostp Why the delay in restoring govt scientific integrity? Plan's a year late & we pay price. Timeline? #AskDrH, or log in to Twitter and craft your own. As long as your post includes both @whitehouseostp and #AskDrH, not only will Dr. Holdren’s office receive it, but others interested in the public dialogue with Dr. Holdren will see it as well.

Pass this email along and get your friends to tweet questions too. We are hoping that enough questions will elicit a meaningful public response from the administration.

If you don’t have or want a Twitter account, but would still like to ask Dr. Holdren about the scientific integrity directive, use this form to send an email.

Sincerely,

Michael Halpern
National Field Organizer
Scientific Integrity Program