The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is one of three main organizations that keep track of the global temperatures (NASA and the UK's Met Office being the others). Like the rest of them, NOAA updates its temperature record as improved methods or data become available. Its latest effort to do so was notable only because of the results. Previous records had suggested that temperature increases slowed down recently; the update indicated that this was largely an artifact due to how some ocean temperatures were handled.
Congressman Lamar Smith (R-Tex.) is clearly not happy with the fact that the apparent "pause" in temperatures has gone away. So, he started issuing requests for the data and methods used in the analysis. When NOAA pointed out that these were already publicly available, Smith issued subpoenas for all correspondence related to the temperature record, and the politician issued a statement suggesting NOAA scientists colluded to manipulate the record for political ends.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) finds this all disturbing, and it has released an open letter to Smith in which it says the committee should be celebrating the fact that the data and methods were already available. Trying to get access to correspondence, in contrast, is worrisome:
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