Since January 2025, the U.S. government has taken down, temporarily or permanently, thousands of government websites. See, for instance, the following:
- "Thousands of U.S. Government Web Paqes Have Been Taken Down" - from the New York Times
- "CDC Removal of Databases on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Sparks Alarm" - from STAT
- "DOGE Decimates Education Department Arm That Tracks National School Performance" - from ProPublica
- "Why EDGI is Archiving Public Environmental Data" - from the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative
These actions have greatly affected the ability of the public to access publicly-funded research and data.
Many of the sites that were taken down have been at least partially restored, but not always without alteration. See, for instance, the following::
- "STAT is Backing Up and Monitoring CDC Data in Real Time: See What’s Changing" - from STAT
- "As Missing and Altered CDC Webpages Threaten Patient Care, Efforts Grow to Fill Information Gaps" - from Medical News & Perspectives
On this page, you will find sites that track the status of government data sites and which ones have been taken down or otherwise altered. You will also find information on efforts to "rescue" data that have been removed from government websites or are at risk of being removed.
Federal Environmental Web Tracker
https://envirodatagov.org/federal-environmental-web-tracker-about-page/
The Federal Environmental Web Tracker is a project undertaken by the Environmental Data and Governance Initiative that monitors "thousands of federal government webpages to track changes under the Trump administration" and "makes these changes publicly available and searchable." The intent is for the site to be updated on a regular basis. You can access the Tracker directly via https://envirodatagov.org/enviro-fed-web-tracker/.
The Nation's Data at Risk
https://www.amstat.org/the-nations-data-at-risk-year-two-ongoing-monitoring
The American Statistical Assocation and George Mason University have been monitoring developments at federal statistical agencies, including developments such as cuts in data-collection programs, decreases in budgets, and staffing changes. This site is part of a broader ASA/GMU effort to assess the well-being of federal statistical agencies. See https://www.amstat.org/policy-and-advocacy/assessing-the-health-of-the-principal-federal-statistical-agencies for additional information.
"STAT is Backing Up and Monitoring CDC Data in Real Time"
https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/tracking-cdc-data-changes-trump-executive-order-targets-gender/
STAT News has been analyzing removals of datasets from the CDC's open data platform at https://data.cdc.gov/. STAT has been tracking both removals and restorations of data, including reviewing restored data for changes in those data. In addition, STAT has also been creating back-up copies of data that were removed from federal sites.
U.S. Government Information: Weekly Roundup
https://ucsd.libguides.com/usgov/roundup
The UC San Diego Library has been montoring federal government statements and releases. The site casts a wide net and is not focused just on data sources, but it does tracks changes to govenment websites and post links to commentaries about the implications of removals of data from government sites.
Data Rescue Project
https://www.datarescueproject.org/
The Data Rescue Project is a collaborative effort among members of different associations and serves as "clearinghouse for data rescue-related efforts and data access points for public US governmental data that are currently at risk." The Project has compiled a list of efforts to rescue and archive government sites and data that is available via https://www.datarescueproject.org/current-efforts/. The Project also has a Data Rescue Tracker that identifies efforts to rescue specific datasets and sources. See the Project's FAQ for information about joining the Project and participating in data rescue efforts.
Data and Screening Tools: Working Agreements
https://screening-tools.com/get-involved
The Public Enviromental Data Partners encourages volunteers to help their efforts in scraping, archiving, and analyzing data related to the environment and to public health.
Tips for Using DataLumos
https://archive.icpsr.umich.edu/datalumos/tips
The DataLumos project is an effort by the ICPSR at the University of Michigan to archive federal government data. DataLumos welcomes both deposits of at-risk data and suggestions for data that should be deposited. See https://aeadataeditor.github.io/aea-de-guidance/creating-datalumos-deposit for step-by-step guidance on depositing data with DataLumos. See https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/about/cms/6103 for additional information about efforts by the ICPSR to safeguard at-risk government data collections.
Volunteer Interest - Environmental Data and Governance Initiative
https://envirodatagov.org/volunteer/
The Environmental Data and Governance Initiative welcomes volunteers who wish to participate in its efforts to promote greater collection of and availability of environmental data and transparency in environmental decision-making.