Obviously this scheme is just political pandering. They want to create an organization whose sole purpose is to assault the legitimacy of factual science for po

Obviously this scheme is just political pandering. They want to create an organization whose sole purpose is to assault the legitimacy of factual science for political purposes, and put it inside the government under the guise of "scientific rigor". But it made me consider: we are facing a serious crisis of replication in psychology. Medical studies are very unreliable. Economics is quite truly a voodoo science; state the conclusion that best lines your pockets and you can find a scientist who says it's just good economic sense and anyone who disagrees is "ignorant of economics". Climate change is based on science but because of the denial there's this air of a faith-based test whenever it's discussed (oh, you're one of THEM?). All of science, since it's a human activity, tends towards an echo chamber. Conservatives don't become social psychologists, lo and behold all social psychology research is blatantly pointed towards reaffirming liberal world views. Communists don't become economists, so economics has become the clergy of unrepentant neoliberalism. Plenty of people aren't particularly concerned about the environment for its own sake, but none of them become climate scientists. This is partially because of initial ideological attraction, but it's largely because these fields require conformity. Being a detractor is difficult: undergraduate lectures are you being lectured about things you fundamentally disagree with which are often not scientific. Every person in your classes and your professor all agree in lockstep about these fundamental concerns except you. When you advance, it's hard to get respect or publications. No matter how rigorous, trying to get a paper published against a tide that strong is impossible. You're ostracized, minimized -- that's even if you get that far, which most don't. They pick a different topic of study where they feel more comfortable. At the end of the day, that's a problem. I think a red team is a great idea in science, if that means people can get grant money and publications and respect for verifying and testing experiments, conducting them again, reproducing them, re-checking the work of others in an adversarial fashion, challenging premises. But you should NOT have anyone be a dedicated red-teamer. That's politicizing the whole process and giving credence where none is due. They should be selected at random from the scientific body and required to advocate against the consensus as best they can for the period of a grant, the way lawyers do pro bono work as a public service, then go back to their regular research.