From: Folta, Kevin M. Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:03:00 EST To: Keith Kloor, CC: BCC: Subject: RE: story Attachments: I’m doing a lot of writing, have a call at 12. Will send you my responses. From: Keith Kloor [mailto:keith.kloor@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 11:36 AM To: Folta, Kevin M. Subject: Re: story I'll call you in 15 minutes. Gotta speak with Rick goodman first. I'm guessing you know the story. I'm doing it for Science magazine. They're gonna play it up. In the magazine and website. But I have to get it done by tonight in order to meet the deadline for this weeks' issue. A couple of questions for you to respond to via email, meanwhile, if you'd like: 1) What do you make of this FOIA request by the advocacy group, 2) what concerns you most about it, if anything, and 3) do you see it as analogous to what happened to the climate science community when they got inundated over a decade ago with a barrage of foia's from climate skeptics. Mull this over, write back, or or talk to me on phone...will call you shortly. Best, Keith On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 11:30 AM, Folta, Kevin M. wrote: I’m on another call…will be done in 2 min. kf From: Keith Kloor [mailto:keith.kloor@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 11:25 AM To: Folta, Kevin M. Subject: story Hey Kevin, I have to speak with you ASAP about a story I'm doing for Science. I'm calling you right after I hit the send button on this email. Best, Keith From: Folta, Kevin M. Date: Mon, 09 Feb 2015 12:05:00 EST To: Keith Kloor, CC: BCC: Subject: RE: story Attachments: From: Keith Kloor [mailto:keith.kloor@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 11:36 AM To: Folta, Kevin M. Subject: Re: story I'll call you in 15 minutes. Gotta speak with Rick goodman first. I'm guessing you know the story. I'm doing it for Science magazine. They're gonna play it up. In the magazine and website. But I have to get it done by tonight in order to meet the deadline for this weeks' issue. A couple of questions for you to respond to via email, meanwhile, if you'd like: 1) What do you make of this FOIA request by the advocacy group, FOIA is an important tool for quickly identifying malfeasance or financial impropriety by public officials. It is of tremendous benefit to have this level of transparency. However, when there is no evidence of misbehavior or other issues, those intending to impeach public scientists have a mechanism to pry into personal correspondence, discussions and project planning. We use a public email address because we do public work. That’s no big deal, there’s nothing to hide. Unfortunately when you skim through the 70,000 emails I have to deal with over the time requested, they will find opportunities to pull a sentence and use it against me. They’ll show that I have 200 emails from Big Ag companies. While it is former students, questions about products, or even asking about someone’s kids, won’t matter—they’ll report “200 emails with Monsanto” in an attempt to harm a reputation. Why? Because I offered to answer, for free, without guidance or information, questions that someone asked on the GMO Answers website. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing—extending and connecting the research to the public. This FOIA request is done to intimidate. It will make public scientists less likely to engage if they know their email record is an open book and subject to political interpretations. Second, it will cost public institutions a fortune to examine and redact student and proprietary information from the massive number of emails requested. It could cause public institutions to demand faculty back away from areas of controversy to avoid FOIA requests, that they must comply with. It is a way for activists to silence effective voices of science. I called US-RTK and just said, “Hi, I’m Kevin Folta, the professor you FOIA’d…what can I tell you? What do you want to know?” We had a nice conversation, nothing earthshaking at all. I just wish we could pick up a phone first instead of forcing a legal proceeding. Better yet, sit with me with a cup of coffee and a legal pad. I’ll explain the science and why it is important. I’m a good teacher, that’s why I answer questions on the website, and that’s exactly why I’m being interrogated by this organization. 2) what concerns you most about it, if anything, I’m honest. I speak my mind. I don’t check and re-check an email to see how it may be alternatively interpreted. I tell truth and stand by it. Those with ill intent will go through my emails and find where I gave advice to someone from company employees about how to communicate with the public. They’ll find cases where I provided information to company people about how to counter an activist’s claims in a debate. I was asked by GMO Answers to contact a person by phone and help them understand the topic, as they had many questions. The guy was mean and abusive and I reported that back, only less than elegantly. I know I reported back about claims of activists using less-than-scholarly verbiage. Now that will come back in an attempt to harm my reputation, when I was the guy reaching out and kindly teaching from a standpoint of peer-reviewed science. and 3) do you see it as analogous to what happened to the climate science community when they got inundated over a decade ago with a barrage of foia's from climate skeptics. This is exactly what happened in climate change. Michael Mann and the East Anglia scientists had a message that needed to be squelched politically, so activists exploited public transparency tools to go on a “gotcha” hunt. That’s what this is. This is looking for those excerpted sentences and out-of-context remarks that can harm the reputations of scientists that stand up for science. Mull this over, write back, or or talk to me on phone...will call you shortly. Best, Keith On Mon, Feb 9, 2015 at 11:30 AM, Folta, Kevin M. wrote: I’m on another call…will be done in 2 min. kf From: Keith Kloor [mailto:keith.kloor@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 11:25 AM To: Folta, Kevin M. Subject: story Hey Kevin, I have to speak with you ASAP about a story I'm doing for Science. I'm calling you right after I hit the send button on this email. Best, Keith