Grassley calls for NSF porn surfing probe

WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, says he wants to know more about a National Science Foundation probe that found employees surfing pornography Web sites.

Grassley, the ranking minority member of the Senate Finance Committee, has ordered the NSF's inspector general to send him all documents relating to an in-house investigation that found "numerous reports" of NSF officials spending large amounts of time viewing porn and engaging in sexually explicit online "chats," the Washington publication Politico reported Wednesday.

The allegations were tucked into the foundation's 68-page semiannual report to Congress under the heading "Abuse of NSF IT Resources." It cited one instance in which an NSF "senior official" was found to have spent as much as 20 percent of his working hours over a two-year span "viewing sexually explicit images and engaging in sexually explicit online 'chats' with various women," Politico said.

"The semiannual report raises real questions about how the National Science Foundation manages its resources, and Congress ought to demand a full accounting before it gives the agency another $3 billion in the stimulus bill," Grassley said.

An NSF spokeswoman told Politico the agency had no comment on the report or its content.