In a lengthy memo [3] Rick S. Piltz, a former senior associate in the Climate Change Science Program, revealed that U.S. government climate research reports had been edited by a White House official, Philip A. Cooney [4], to emphasize doubts about climate change. According to Piltz's memo Cooney, a former "climate team leader" and lobbyist with the American Petroleum Institute [5], changed one 2002 document to "create an enhanced sense of scientific uncertainty about climate change [6] and its implications." In March this year Piltz resigned and subsequently contacted the Government Accountability Project [7], a whistleblower protection organization. A white House spokeswoman, Michele St. Martin, told [8] the New York Times that Cooney would not be available to speak to reporters. "He's not a cleared spokesman," she said. Myron Ebell [9] from the Competitive Enterprise Institute [10], a corporate-funded think tank [11], defended the editing as necessary for "consistency."