Earlier this week, Dr. Julie L. Gerberding (director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) testified before a Senate subcommittee about risks to the health of the public associated with climate change and global warming. As policy dictates, her testimony was recorded, transcribed, and entered into the public archives. As policy does not dictate, however, the transcript of her testimony was edited in interesting ways, with no evidence of redaction left behind. Dr. Gerberding has stated that such edits are routinely made before the transcripts are put online, and has no problem with her text being altered.

Major semantic …