Allan Brornley finally got his chance July 21 to appear before the Senate as part of his nomination as director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy and presidential science adviser. And it seems as though the Yale physicist will be in great demand once he steps into his new job. (The Senate was expected to vote last week to confirm him.) Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), calling himself "a complete ignoramus on science," invited him to a series of informal breakfast meetings to brief Commerce and Science Committee members on relevant topics. Sen. AI Gore (D-Tenn.), substituting for committee chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), invited Bromley back after his confirmation to a series of September hearings on science policy. Bromley also told Gore that he would have regular access to President Bush, and that he will be a member of the National Space Council and executive director of the President's Council on Science and Technology, a new 12-member advisory panel whose members have not yet been selected. In fact, the 3 1/2-hour dialogue between Gore and Bromley was so congenial that Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) warned Gore at one point, "Don't make him spend so much time with us that he won't be able to do his job."
Making A List, Checking It Twice
The U.S. Geological Survey says it already knows who's naughty in a case involving the fabrication of data on water hydrology research carried out by the survey's North Dakota office. But in an effort to cleanse the literature of all bogus material, they are checking with each of the coauthors on some 35 papers that feature work done by Robert Houghton. The 38-year-old hydrologist resigned from USGS in February after it concluded that he had made up research data and forged comments from colleagues to make it appear that his work had been peer reviewed. "We have people going into the archives and searching the databases to see if the numbers exist, " says Jim Blakey, regional hydrologist for USGS's central region in Denver. "If there's any doubt in our minds, then we will withdraw the report." The audit is being carried out by some of the same people who were unwitting victims of Houghton's alleged deception, Blakey says, but Blakey doesn't expect their past connection with Houghton to influence the outcome of the investigation. "They're the ones who are most familiar with the database," he says, "and they have expressed a strong desire to see things corrected." Blakey says that Houghton's high productivity during a 10-year tenure in North Dakota had marked him "as a rising star" at USGS, and that his "brilliance" masked any suspicions that some of his work was fraudulent.
