July 15, 2026
New! The Trump administration removes an exhibit on slavery from the site of President George Washington’s home in Philadelphia.
Who's behind the news?
Who's behind the news?
Tracking changes to federal data, archives, and public records
The Disappearing Data Chronology documents major data losses and restorations, legal challenges to information takedowns, and threats to archival collections. Entries are presented newest first.
New! The Trump administration removes an exhibit on slavery from the site of President George Washington’s home in Philadelphia.
New! At least 1,662 Department of Energy webpages on utility bills and energy savings are removed, according to an investigation by The Guardian.
New! An internal Department of the Interior memorandum reviewed by The Washington Post reveals that the agency has prohibited the National Park Service and other Interior Department employees from directly notifying the public about deaths at U.S. national park.
New! Fired NOAA staff relaunch the Climate.gov website under a new nongovernmental domain, Climate.us.
New! An internal memorandum reviewed by The Washington Post reveals that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will stop reporting deaths of newly released detainees.
New! A Washington Post investigation via a Freedom of Information Act request finds that the Trump Presidential Library is unable to locate a single X (formerly Twitter) direct message among its holdings.
New! The Department of Justice acknowledges it has removed from its website news releases about criminal cases related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
New! U.S. District Judge John D. Bates rules that the Trump administration must continue to observe the requirements of the Presidential Records Act.
New! The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau deletes from its website all press releases, speeches, testimony, op-eds, and other public statements issued before President Trump’s 2025 inauguration.
New! The Defense Department, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration release declassified photos, videos, and other documents related to unidentified flying objects.
Public Broadcasting Service series American Experience is revived after it joins FRONTLINE and NOVA in a new documentary unit at Boston Public Radio (GBH).
New! CREW and Freedom of the Press Foundation file a joint lawsuit challenging the Office of Legal Counsel’s memorandum declaring the Presidential Records Act unconstitutional, following the American Historical Association and American Oversight’s lawsuit earlier in the month.
According to a report by The Intercept, the Pentagon scrubbed 15 wounded-in-action troops from its Iran War causality list.
Two scientists inform The Washington Post that the acting director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed the publication of a CDC report showing the COVID-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults the previous winter by about half.
The American Historical Association and American Oversight file a joint lawsuit challenging OLC’s memorandum declaring that the President Records Act is unconstitutional.
The White House confirms that Ed Forst, head of the Government Services Administration, is currently serving as acting National Archivist, while Bradford P. Wilson awaits confirmation.
The Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) rules that the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional because it “exceeds Congress’s enumerated and implied powers and aggrandizes the Legislative Branch at the expense of the constitutional independence and autonomy of the Executive.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service announces it will move its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, and begin a “sweeping restructuring of the agency to move leadership closer to the forests and communities it serves.” As part of the restructuring, the agency also announces it will be closing all 10 regional offices, all of which house “troves of archival documents.”
A Washington Post investigation finds that at least 13 agencies and departments explicitly stated in 26 FOIA lawsuits that the Trump administration’s 2025 workforce reductions were the reasons for failures to meet FOIA deadlines.
President Trump nominates Bradford P. Wilson to be National Archivist of the United States.
A National Public Radio investigation reports that the Department of Justice has withheld some Epstein files related to allegations that President Trump sexually abused a minor.
The CIA withdraws 17 intelligence reports published before President Trump took office following an agency review that determined the reports were biased or were an inappropriate use of spy agency resources. The withdrawn reports include an analysis of the role of women in violent white national groups overseas; a report on the challenges facing LGBT activists in the Islamic world; and a report on the coronavirus pandemic’s impact on access to contraception and family planning in developing countries.
President Trump announces that he has directed his administration to begin releasing files related to aliens, extraterrestrial life, and unidentified flying objects.
The State Department announces that it will remove all posts from its public accounts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) that were made before President Trump’s second term began on January 20, 2025. The State Department states that the deleted posts will be internally archived but will not be publicly accessible.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is removed as acting head of NARA. A NARA spokesperson later reports that Rubio tapped senior advisor to the archivist James Byron to perform the duties of archivist.
Without any advance notice, the CIA announces that it will terminate the “World Factbook,” the agency’s public repository of basic information about countries, their economies, and their people.
The Washington Post reports that Trump officials have instructed National Park Service staff to remove or edit signs and other information materials in at least 17 additional parks in Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Utah, Montana, and Wyoming.
The National Park Service removes exhibits depicting slavery and George Washington's treatment of enslaved people at the President's House in Philadelphia.
The Trump Administration removes the United States from the Open Government Partnership, the international organization aimed at improving government transparency.
The National Portrait Gallery removes references to President Trump’s impeachment after the museum replaces his official portrait.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s largest research library at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD closes.
Domestic Policy Council Director Vince Haley and OMB Director Russell Vought send a letter to the head of the Smithsonian Institution demanding the museum turn over documentation on “current exhibition descriptions, draft plans for upcoming shows, upcoming programming materials, and internal guidelines used in exhibition development.”
OMB Director Russell Vought announces the National Science Foundation will dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO, a key weather and climate research center.
The OPM and HHS file a compliance report confirming that all 195 websites covered in the Doctors for America lawsuit have been restored.
U.S. District Judge Rodney Smith grants DOJ’s request to unseal Jeffrey Epstein grand jury records.
The EPA removes at least 80 webpages related to climate change, its impacts, and its causes.
President Trump signs a bill directing the DOJ to release files related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington Post reports that the State Department erased 15 pages related to the 1983 NATO exercise known as the Able Archer 83 War Scare from its digital Foreign Relations of the United States series.
The DOJ removes all references to the January 6 Capitol attack in a revised sentencing memo for Taylor Franklin Taranto, a former January 6 defendant pardoned by President Trump who was later convicted of weapons and hoax charges after being arrested near President Obama’s home in 2023.
The Department of Agriculture removes from its website the September 2025 plan to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
Voice of America ceases broadcasting after the government shuts down, two days after a judge orders the Trump administration to reinstate workers and restore programming.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces a new directive overhauling the Defense Department’s equal opportunity outfit and the inspectors general for the military services, two channels that allow troops to file whistleblower complaints.
U.S. D.C. District Judge Royce Lamberth rules that the U.S. Agency for Global Media must not proceed with its Reduction-In-Force ordered by the Trump administration.
The Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency informs Congress it will cease “statutorily mandated functions and furlough 25 permanent employees” after OMB informs the watchdog group it will cut off its funding on October 1, 2025.
The Department of Agriculture announces it will end its “Household Food Security Report,” a longstanding annual survey that provides data on the lack of access to adequate nutrition for low-income Americans.
CREW asserts in a court filing that OMB circumvented a court order that requires the agency to publish its apportionments database.
The Trump administration orders the National Park Service to take down materials related to slavery and Native Americans.
The EPA proposes to end its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program which requires industry to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions to the agency.
The House Oversight Government Reform Committee releases 33,295 pages of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.
The Washington State Medical Association reaches a settlement in its lawsuit against Robert F. Kennedy Jr and the HHS.
Kari Lake, acting CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, announces the agency will eliminate over 500 jobs at Voice of America and other government-funded broadcasts.
After the Trump administration cuts funding for public broadcasting, the Public Broadcasting Service documentary series “American Experience” suspends production and lays off its staff.
OMB restores access to its apportionments database following the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals decision.
The State Department shuts down its Human Rights Reporting Gateway, an online portal for reporting alleged human rights violations by foreign military units.
The State Department releases its annual Human Rights Report and removes references to gender-based violence and environmental justice.
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals panel votes unanimously for OMB to restore its apportionments database.
Parts of the U.S. Constitution are removed from the Library of Congress’ “Constitution Annotated” website due to an “unspecified coding error.”.
The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History temporarily removes a placard that references President Donald Trump’s two impeachments. Several days later, the museum reinstalls the placard with several changes to the prior text.
Source: News Release, “Smithsonian Statement on Impeachment Exhibit,” The Smithsonian, August 2, 2025.
Two judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals rule that agency Reduction-In-Force plans do not have to be released to the public.
The White House releases more than 6,000 documents related to the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan rules that OMB must restore its apportionments database.
The Intercept reports that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement stopped reporting in February the number of transgender people who have disappeared from ICE records against congressional orders.
Documents obtained by the Federal News Network show that hundreds of federal agency websites are being targeted for elimination following a governmentwide review by the General Services Administration.
New! In response to President Trump’s executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” the Data Rescue Project and Safeguarding Research and Culture launch the #SaveOurSigns campaign to create an archive of National Park Service signs.
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates rules that OPM and HHS must restore all affected federal websites.
NOAA’s website climate.gov stops publishing new content after its staff is fired at the end of May.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program website is dismantled, and with it all five previously published National Climate Assessments.
Source: Rebecca Dzombak, “National Climate Report Website Goes Dark,” The New York Times, July 1, 2025.
ProPublica sues the Food and Drug Administration in federal court over withholding information about the safety and availability of generic drugs.
Internal documents obtained by the New York Times reveal that the Interior Department instructed National Park Service staff to post QR codes and signs at all 433 national parks, monuments, and historic sites asking for visitors to flag “inappropriate content” that should be changed.
In a speech at Fort Bragg, President Trump announces that the names of all Army bases that were named for Confederate generals but later changed would be restored.
The Supreme Court blocks a lower court order granting CREW limited discovery into whether DOGE is subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The DOJ files an emergency appeal asking the Supreme Court to block an effort to release DOGE records to CREW.
U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rules that President Trump’s firings of two Democratic members on the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board is unlawful.
The White House removes official transcripts of President Donald Trump’s public remarks from its government website, replacing them with selected videos of his public appearances.
The Washington State Medical Association files a lawsuit against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and HHS over the removal of public health resources and federal websites.
The Department of Agriculture obliges with a court order to restore previously deleted climate data.
NOAA announces it will no longer update its Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters database.
The National Archives releases more Robert F. Kennedy assassination files.
The White House terminates the entire staff of the State Department’s Historical Advisory Committee, the group that oversees the declassification of government records related to U.S. foreign relations.
USA Today wins a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the DOJ, forcing the agency to release records of deaths in federal prisons.
A memo sent to USAID employees announces that staff must complete “various exit tasks,” including the return of government equipment ‘which will be remotely wiped.”
The Trump administration announces it is cancelling the lease for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan.
American Oversight sues DOGE and other Trump officials for violating the Federal Records Act.
The Trump administration releases records about the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announces a list of datasets regarding ocean monitoring are scheduled to be removed in May.
In a court filing, the Central Intelligence Agency reports that all messages from the leaked Signal chat group had been deleted from the phone of Director John Ratcliffe.
The National Park Service restores its original webpage on the Underground Railroad with photos of Harriet Tubman and segments on slavery.
CREW sues OMB and its director Russell Vought for removing its apportionments database.
The National Park Service removes a photograph of Harriet Tubman and content about slavery from its webpage about the Underground Railroad. The changes are first reported by The Washington Post on April 6, but screenshots from the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine demonstrate that the change occurred sometime around March 19, 2025.
Source: Jon Swaine and Jeremy B. Merrill, “Amid anti-DEI push, National Park Service rewrites history of Underground Railroad,” The Washington Post, April 6, 2025 and Internet Archive Wayback Machine screenshot comparing January 21, 2025, and March 19, 2015 of the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad webpage. Additional source
Almost all employees at the foreign policy think tank Wilson Center are placed on leave after DOGE shuts down the center.
Non-profit American Oversight launches an investigation into the Trump administration’s use of the Signal messaging app for official government business.
Members of DOGE enter the Woodrow Wilson Center's offices and begin taking over its systems. The following day, the center's president, Mark Green, resigns.
The EPA announces the closure of its National Environmental Museum and Education Center.
Officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order staff not to release an expert assessment on measles risk.
Chief Judge of the U.S. D.C. District Court James E. Boasberg orders relevant agencies involved to preserve its records of the Signal group chat about sensitive military operations in Yemen.
President Trump signs Executive Order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History”, calling on the Department of the Interior and Smithsonian Institution to remove “divisive narratives” or change any public monuments, memorials, statues, or markers that “inappropriately…include any other improper partisan ideology.”
Source: White House Press Release, “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” March 27, 2025.
The White House sends a new “records retention policy” to DOGE to preserve Signal messages in the wake of the Signal group chat crisis.
Source: Kyle Cheney, “White House to DOGE employees: Preserve your Signal records,” Politico, March 27.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard briefs Congress on the intelligence community’s Annual Threat Assessment, the first report of its kind to omit any mention of climate change in over a decade.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) removes its apportionments database, a public resource the agency is statutorily required to publish of approvals of federal funding provided in appropriations laws.
Source: Paul M. Krawzak, “White House scraps public spending database,” Roll Call, March 24, 2025.
Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg breaks the story that he was added to a Signal group chat with several United States national security leaders about imminent military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. The political scandal is nicknamed “Signalgate” in the media.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell denies a request to block DOGE’s takeover of the USIP.
Source: Feng and Lucas, “Judge declines to immediately reverse Trump moves at U.S. Institute of Peace.”
The Pentagon purges or flags tens of thousands of websites for removal, including content on Holocaust remembrance, sexual assault, cancer awareness, and suicide prevention.
Five board members from the USIP file a lawsuit against DOGE alleging they were unlawfully removed from their positions.
The Trump administration releases more than 31,000 pages from the National Archives on the 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination.
In a dramatic standoff, DOGE staff and D.C. police enter the USIP after the think tank’s president and several board members are removed days earlier.
President Trump signs Executive Order “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” dismantling the United States Agency for Global Media, the parent company of U.S. news service Voice of America.
The Pentagon removes a webpage on the Iwo Jima flag-raiser.
An unofficial but functional copy of FEMA’s Future Risk Index Tool is shared on GitHub.
Doctors from Harvard Medical School challenge the removal of articles from government-run website Patient Safety Network.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan orders DOGE to turn over records and answer questions about plans to downsize federal agencies, fire employees, and suspend federal contracts.
Acting Executive Secretary of USAID orders the destruction of classified records and personnel files.
Source: “DON’T SHRED ON ME!,” The National Security Archive, March 12, 2025.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper rules that DOGE is likely subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and issues a preliminary injunction requiring the preservation of documents and expedited processing of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington’s (CREW) FOIA requests.
Arlington National Cemetery begins wiping histories of Black, Hispanic, and women veterans from its website.
The White House reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has returned materials seized at Mar-a-Lago to President Trump.
In a notice to the Federal Register, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. moves to eliminate public comment on HHS decisions.
The DOJ begins to release files of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein files but says “there’s little new information.”
The Pentagon announces it will remove news and feature articles promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.
The Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York files a lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture over removal of climate-related materials from its website.
The Department of Homeland Security removes hundreds of investigative records by the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
The DOJ deletes its National Law Enforcement Accountability Database, an inventory for tracking federal police misconduct.
President Trump signs Executive Order “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” to cut the non-statutory components of the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), Presidio Trust, the Inter-American Foundation, and the United States African Development Foundation.
The DOJ removes its “Not One More Report” on violence against Native American women.
The John F. Kennedy Library and Museum in Boston, MA closes indefinitely, then reopens, amid chaos from federal cuts.
National Archives Deputy Archivist William Bosanko and Inspector General Brett M. Baker announce their resignations.
Source: Dan Friedman and David Corn, “National Archives Head Resigns as Trump Takes Control of Records,” Mother Jones, February 14, 2025 and Meagan Vazquez, “Acting archivist, inspector general for National Archives forced out,” The Washington Post, February 16, 2025. Additional source
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson blocks the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) from continuing mass firings of employees and prohibits the Trump administration from destroying or removing any of the CFPB’s data collections.
A media coalition reports that evidence used at the sentencing for a rioter charged in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has “disappeared” from government websites. In response, D.C. District chief judge James Boasberg orders the government to halt any removal of any video or court records related to January 6.
U.S. District Judge John Bates orders the OPM and HHS to restore public access to health-related webpage and datasets.
The National Security Agency deletes websites and internal network content that contain any of the 27 words currently banned by the Trump administration.
Source: “The NSA’s ‘Big Delete’,” Popular Information, February 10, 2025.
President Trump fires National Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan.
Source: Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney, “Trump fires National Archives chief,” Politico, February 7, 2025.
The Department of Defense removes the webpage “Tackling the Climate Crisis,” which houses the agency’s Climate Resilience Portal and military tools for climate change.
Harvard’s Library Innovation Lab Team releases a complete archive of federal public datasets linked by data.gov.
Source: “Announcing the Data.gov Archive,” Harvard Library Innovation Lab Team, February 6, 2025.
404 Media reports that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) ordered employees to stop using messaging app Slack while the agency transitions to a records system not subject to the Freedom of Information Act.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removes from its website the environmental justice mapping and screening tool EJScreen.
Doctors for America files a lawsuit against the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging the removal of health data from federal websites.
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) website goes dark and agency staff emails are deactivated.
As a result of President Trump’s directive for agencies to terminate and/or remove all programs, documents, and media that promote “gender ideology” and diversity initiatives, more than 8,000 outward-facing webpages and social media accounts across federal agencies are removed.
President Trump orders the “full and complete release” of all still-classified documents related to the 1963 John F. Kennedy assassination.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) removes a database from its website detailing all January 6, 2025, cases prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Columbia.
The U.S. Air Force removes training courses with videos of the Tuskegee Airmen and the Women Airforce Service Pilots.
Members of the Public Environmental Data Partners create an unofficial but functional copy of the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool.
Source: “Trump Removes Access to CEJST, Our New Coalition Restores It.”
The Trump administration fires 17 federal inspectors general at government agencies.
The White House shuts down the Spanish-language version of its official website.
The Trump administration removes access to the Council on Environmental Quality’s Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool.
President Trump signs several Executive Orders on his first day in office, including “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” and “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” which become the bedrock for the administration’s overhaul of federal data and resources.
Source: White House Press Release, “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” January 20, 2025, and White House Press Release, “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” January 20, 2025. Additional source
The Federal Emergency Management Agency removes its Future Risk Index Tool, a resource for identifying impacts of climate change.