Bush Appointees Land Career Science Jobs With Seemingly Unrelated Backgrounds. It's happened in previous administrations and is known as "burrowing".
"The president of the nation's largest general science organization yesterday sharply criticized recent cases of Bush administration political appointees gaining permanent federal jobs with responsibility for making or administering scientific policies, saying the result would be 'to leave wreckage behind.'
'It's ludicrous to have people who do not have a scientific background, who are not trained and skilled in the ways of science, make decisions that involve resources, that involve facilities in the scientific infrastructure,' said James McCarthy, a Harvard University oceanographer who is president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 'You'd just like to think people have more respect for the institution of government than to leave wreckage behind with these appointments.'
His comments came as several new examples surfaced of political appointees gaining coveted, high-level civil service positions as the administration winds down. The White House has said repeatedly that all gained their new posts in an open, competitive process, but congressional Democrats and others questioned why political appointees had won out over qualified federal career employees."
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