The issue focused on concerns over allegations that NASA scientist Eugene Shoven participated in experiments involving organs harvested from aborted babies and laboratory mice. In December 2011, NASA appointed scientists Peter Waldron and Frederick Wetzel as acting administrators for the Scientific Integrity Section at NASA Headquarters in Washington. That agency oversees NASA's extensive portfolio of external investigators who oversee investigations into NASA activities and missions. The letters cited scientific misconduct allegations against Waldron and Wetzel but made no reference to NASA scientist Lynn Gibson's accusations against NASA researcher Harold Hopkins.

