A Nature News story this week (458, 130; 2009) reports that US President Barack Obama has directed the head of the Office of Science and Technology Policy to ensure scientific integrity in government decision-making.

The presidential memo calls for agencies to hire scientific employees based on their knowledge, and to put rules in place for scientific integrity and transparency along with protection for whistleblowers.

According to the Nature News story, Harold Varmus, co-chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, says the memo would help prevent the kind of instances during the administration of George W. Bush when political appointees interfered with the workings of government scientists. “The intent is to prevent that kind of undermining of the science advisory process,” he says. John Marburger, Bush’s science adviser, wrote in an e-mail: “There’s certainly nothing wrong with it, but I never believed such a memorandum was necessary. From the perspective of the Obama administration, it delivers on a campaign commitment.”