In his News Feature “Pall of suspicion” (24 March, p. 1180), J. Mervis describes 5 of the 246 cases in which the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) suspected that scientists were violating grant funding policies. Mervis insinuates that the cases were mishandled and unjustified, but the data he cites show that NIH had well-founded concerns. In over 60% of the 246 cases, institutional investigations resulted in employment termination or future grant ineligibility, whereas institutions found no evidence of wrongdoing in only 6% of cases. Mervis characterizes the investigations as secretive, but the lack of transparency can be explained by privacy considerations, which prevented NIH from disclosing details about the evidence leading to concerns about these 246 scientists. Although nondisclosure of details to the public may have led to misunderstandings among those not directly involved, NIH followed appropriate procedures and guidelines to protect the integrity of its funding.