U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) has invited Rod Schoonover, a senior intelligence analyst at the State Department, to testify before the Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis.

“The invitation follows reports that revealed that Dr. Schoonover’s written testimony to the House Intelligence Committee was suppressed by the White House because it included climate science,” Schatz’s office said Tuesday.

Schatz is chairman of the Special Committee on the Climate Crisis.

Cory Lum/Civil Beat

The press release links to a Washington Post article dated June 8 and titled, “White House blocked intelligence agency’s written testimony calling climate change ‘possibly catastrophic’.”

The Post wrote, “According to several senior administration officials, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal deliberations, Trump administration officials sought to cut several pages of the document on the grounds that its description of climate science did not mesh with the administration’s official stance.”

In his letter to Schoonover, Schatz wrote, “While your oral testimony provided compelling information regarding the impacts we are all facing, we are concerned by reports that your complete written testimony was suppressed by the White House, preventing your views from being fully expressed.”

The senator added: “The Senate Special Committee on the Climate Crisis is willing to provide you the opportunity to thoroughly discuss, either publicly or privately, the numerous ways climate change is currently affecting U.S. national security interests around the world and how to plan for future impacts.”