Trump officials tighten gag on Veteran scientific publications
4 Min Read
VA officials under Trump demanded political clearance for scientific publications, renewing concerns of censorship of researchers and suppression of academic work.
-
In this June 21, 2013 file photo, the Veterans Affairs Department's Seal can be seen in Washington, United States. (AP)
Senior officials at the US Department of Veterans Affairs have directed VA physicians and scientists to seek clearance from Donald Trump’s political appointees before publishing in medical journals or speaking publicly, The Guardian reported on Monday.
The directive was issued in emails on Friday by Curt Cashour, the VA’s assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs, and John Bartrum, a senior advisor to VA Secretary Doug Collins, just hours after the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine published a perspective piece co-authored by two VA pulmonologists from Texas.
“We have guidance for this,” Cashour's email reads, in which he attached the journal publication and said, "These people did not follow it."
The article cautioned that canceled contracts, layoffs, and a planned cut of 80,000 staff in the nation's largest healthcare system endanger a million veterans, from Vietnam-era soldiers affected by Agent Orange to post-9/11 troops with cancer from toxic burn pit exposure, whose care relies on these services.
“As pulmonologists in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), we have been seeing increasing numbers of veterans with chronic bronchitis, pulmonary fibrosis, asthma, and other respiratory conditions,” Doctors Pavan Ganapathiraju and Rebecca Traylor said in their publication.
The authors, both practicing at the VA in Austin, Texas, pointed out that Congress had significantly expanded the list of service-connected medical conditions in 2022, while emphasizing in their article that "legislation doesn't care for patients, people do."
Trump admin rebuke publication
According to internal emails obtained by The Guardian, the article drew an immediate response from Trump-appointed officials, with Bartrum, citing a rise in academic and media reports, instructing staff to remind researchers and field personnel of their obligation to follow VA policy, attaching the journal article for reference.
Cashour, the assistant secretary, stated that his office held approval authority for national media publications and required local and regional directors to immediately notify Washington of any situations that could generate negative national attention.
The VA press secretary, Peter Kasperowicz, stated in an email that the agency's media policy only mandates employees to coordinate with public affairs before engaging with the press, noting that such policies are standard across both government and private organizations. He added that the policy has been in place for several years across several US administrations.
The article fully complied with VA regulations encouraging publication in peer-reviewed professional or scholarly journals, and while coordination with public affairs is encouraged when sharing personal or academic opinions, it is not mandated, Ganapathiraju told The Guardian.
Ganapathiraju stated that neither he nor his co-author had faced any disciplinary action, noting in an email that they had received supportive messages from VA professionals nationwide but had not received any communication from their local VA administration or national leadership.
Trump's war on science
VA employees and veterans' rights advocates argue that the warning aligns with a broader trend of censorship under Trump, whose opponents accuse him of systematically undermining scientific discourse through what they characterize as a sustained campaign against evidence-based research.
The Trump administration has eliminated billions in medical research grants from agencies like the NIH and NSF since taking office, prompting nearly 2,000 top scientists, including Nobel laureates, to warn in an April open letter that funding cuts and an intimidating atmosphere are devastating scientific progress and threatening independent inquiry.
VA press secretary Kasperowicz dismissed as absurd any suggestion that enforcing the department's media policy constitutes an attack on scientific discourse, according to his official statement.
Trump issued an executive order on May 23 titled "Restoring Gold Standard Science" in which he accused his predecessor, Biden, of misusing evidence to craft climate change policies, which prompted thousands of academics to sign an open letter in protest, arguing it gives leeway to political interference.
On May 28, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he was evaluating a potential ban preventing government scientists from publishing in leading medical journals such as JAMA, the Lancet, and NEJM, which he characterized as fundamentally corrupt institutions.
