The purpose of the scientists' statement, Restoring Scientific Integrity in Policymaking ("Scientists vs. the administration," Editorial, Tuesday) is not to criticize the administration but to attempt to remedy the problem as we see it.I have advised Republican and Democratic administrations dating to Eisenhower, worked closely with Donald Rumsfeld in 1998 on the Commission to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the United States, and, for the record, strongly support the new land-mine policy of the Bush administration.
My purpose in being one of the initial signers of the statement was to raise a warning flag about the serious consequences of suppressing and distorting scientific knowledge that has become all too common with this administration.
RICHARD L. GARWIN
IBM Fellow Emeritus
Thomas J. Watson Research Center
Yorktown Heights, N.Y.