Presentation to the National Academy of Sciences Expert Panel, “Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Past 1,000-2,000 Years.”

1 Introduction Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today. We are flattered to be included among so many distinguished presenters and to have the opportunity to be heard by such an eminent panel. We have expressed our concern to the NAS that a couple of panel members have close associations to people who strongly oppose our views. We reiterate the need for the Panel to undertake a thorough and unbiased examination of the evidence we present, and we have prepared our submission on the assumption that this will be done. We are not here to argue for or against the Medieval Warm Period, or to present an alternative interpretation of climate history, but to report on our efforts to evaluate the quality, robustness and statistical significance of multiproxy evidence behind the claim that 20 th century climate change is unprecedented in a millennial context. In this regard we will primarily focus on the following questions put to this panel by Representative Boehlert: