Former federal data officials answer the question: How many federal datasets have been terminated since January 2025?

WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Since the 2025 change in presidential administrations, disappearing federal datasets have drawn widespread attention, generating both concern and confusion about what has actually been terminated.

Different media outlets, academics, and nonprofits are reporting data losses ranging up to the thousands. Professional organizations are documenting cuts to federal staff, contracts, and advisory committees and raising concerns about the politicization of federal data. Adding to the confusion, some datasets are being pulled down only to return later.

Today, dataindex.us, the nation's leading resource for monitoring changes to federal data, published the Federal Data Terminations Tracker—the most policy-relevant, verified source of federal datasets terminated since January 2025. Having evolved from the crowdsourced Dearly Departed Datasets published in October 2025, the tracker combines community reporting with expert identification and review to provide a regularly updated record of terminations.

"Data are the central nervous system of modern government," said Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist, co-founder of dataindex.us, and Director of the Data Policy Institute at the Federation of American Scientists. "The termination of federal data – whether related to food security, drug abuse, or hate crimes – has far reaching impacts. Many of these terminations occurred behind closed doors and without opportunity for public input, so we're bringing visibility to what's been lost through a rigorous tracking process."

The team identified dozens of federal datasets and hundreds of data elements that have been terminated – significantly fewer than other reports, but more tailored to informing effective public engagement and future data policies needed to run a modern society. These are data that have long underpinned policymaking, journalism, advocacy, and research that improve American lives and livelihoods.

"Disruptions to federal data are hard to monitor, yet they affect our nation's ability to address issues ranging from climate risks, to maternal and infant health, to immigration enforcement," said Christopher Dick, former Chief of Population Evaluation at the U.S. Census Bureau, former statistician at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and co-founder of dataindex.us. "We're committed to publicly documenting what has changed and why it matters."

View the tracker at dataindex.us/terminations-tracker, and read more about the methodology and why quantifying data terminations is so challenging here.

About dataindex.us
dataindex.us is the nation's go-to resource enabling policymakers, journalists, advocates, and data users to monitor changes to federal datasets. This civic infrastructure promotes transparency, accountability, public engagement, and informed decision-making, with the ultimate aim of improving federal data policies and building a more resilient national data ecosystem. dataindex.us is a part of the Federation of American Scientists Data Policy Institute, and is a collaboration between leading data policy experts.

The Federal Data Terminations Tracker is funded by the Funders For the Future of Public Data (3FPD).

Media Contact: 
Megan Lampros 
One Twelve Communications on behalf of dataindex.us 
[email protected] 

SOURCE dataindex.us