Honest government data and scientific integrity
A democracy needs honest information about itself: employment, inflation, public health, environmental conditions, agency performance, the state of the world its policies affect. Government statisticians and scientists do not work for whichever party holds office; they work for the public, and their job is to report what the data say, not what their political leadership wishes the data said. The integrity of public records and scientific output is what makes informed citizenship — and informed policy — possible at all.
The abuses tracked here include the suppression or delayed release of agency data on political grounds, the appointment of unqualified loyalists to scientific or statistical roles, retaliation against career scientists whose findings inconvenience leadership, the alteration of official records after publication, and the censorship of agency research. When government becomes the editor of its own performance, the public loses both accurate ground truth and the ability to hold anyone accountable for the gap between rhetoric and reality.
Further reading: Government Accountability Office — non-partisan oversight reports on agency performance and program integrity. Library of Congress Constitution Annotated.
2026 Events (60)
Washington Post revealed Defense Department stripped slavery context from Arlington's Confederate memorial marker
The Washington Post reported on September 7, 2026, that the Trump administration had removed language critical of Confederate history from a marker and Defense Department website describing the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery; the exact date the text changed is not established in the reporting. The removed passages described the 32-foot bronze statue as presenting a "nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery," and the replacement marker states only that the statue will return to the site in 2027 after conservation. The Defense Department referred questions to Arlington National Cemetery, which did not respond to the newspaper.
Education Department stripped nonbinary-student data from civil rights collection, dropped decade-old summary report
On September 4, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights released its 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection with nonbinary-student data stripped from all 37 published files, citing President Trump's January 2025 executive order recognizing only two sexes. The department also eliminated the nonbinary-student category from the next collection cycle and discontinued the "First Look Report," the simplified public-summary format it had published for over a decade, leaving only raw data files for release.
HHS published a report tying gender-affirming care to left-wing authoritarianism and political violence, using an unvalidated survey scale
On August 26, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services published a report, commissioned through its Office of Population Affairs, claiming that support for gender-affirming care correlates with left-wing authoritarian psychology and a greater willingness to justify political violence. The report, co-authored by Network Contagion Research Institute head Joel Finkelstein, Manhattan Institute fellow Colin Wright, Rutgers professor Lee Jussim, and Rutgers students Ohad Fedida and Danit Finkelstein, relied on a newly created survey scale that independent researchers said had never been validated and was designed to produce the correlation it found. Civil-liberties and LGBTQ-rights organizations, along with outside academics, called the report's methodology invalid and its framing "nakedly political."
West Point ordered professor to stop teaching human-caused climate change, then declined to renew his contract after he objected, lawsuit says
Adam Kalkstein, a tenured geography professor who taught climatology at the United States Military Academy for 17 years, sued West Point and three administrators in federal court on August 24, 2026, alleging he was pushed out for refusing to comply with a directive -- issued on White House orders -- to stop teaching cadets that human activity is a primary driver of climate change. According to the lawsuit, West Point stripped Kalkstein of tenure in 2025, ordered the geography department in September 2025 to stop teaching anthropogenic climate change under threat of dissolving the department, and declined to renew his contract in 2026 after he protested the directive to the academy dean. West Point said in a statement it was aware of the allegations but declined further comment.
Florida's Juvenile Justice department left a public-records request unfulfilled for nearly two years, Florida Phoenix found
Florida Phoenix reported that the state's Department of Juvenile Justice has left the outlet's October 2024 public-records request for detention-center behavior reports unfulfilled for nearly two years, despite fulfilling a nearly identical request within three months earlier that same year. A second request from February 2025 and a March 2026 request for a statutorily mandated annual financial report also remain unanswered, and the department has given no explanation for any of the delays. First Amendment Foundation executive director Bobby Block said the pattern of non-response is increasingly common under the current administration and treats public records as a privilege rather than a right.
Idaho Education News investigation reveals Idaho Tax Commission withheld tax-credit recipient data despite months of records requests
An Idaho Education News investigation published August 24, 2026 found that the Idaho State Tax Commission had denied nearly all of at least seven public records requests filed between February and July 2026 for data on who benefits from Idaho's $50 million-a-year Parental Choice Tax Credit private-school subsidy program. Requesters included two journalists, a college faculty member, a data analyst, a homeschool advocate, a former public school superintendent, and Democratic state legislative leaders, several of whom sought data on how many recipients previously attended public school. Tax Commission officials confirmed the denials on the record, citing tax-return privacy laws and incomplete data processing.
POGO investigation found ICE inflated detention facility ratings while cutting inspections and weakening standards
A Project On Government Oversight investigation with American University's Investigative Reporting Workshop, published August 18, 2026, found that ICE's Office of Detention Oversight nearly tripled "Superior" ratings for detention facilities since fiscal year 2024 while recorded violations fell nearly 70 percent between fiscal years 2022 and 2025. The investigation found ICE eliminated a congressional twice-yearly inspection requirement in 2025 and adopted 2026 detention standards that dropped mandatory water testing and detainee wage protections, even as a California Department of Justice report, a federal judge's order, and Disability Rights California documented ongoing medical-care and water-quality failures at facilities ICE rated favorably. The detained population passed 65,000 in 2026, and 2025 was the deadliest year in ICE custody since 2004.
War Department submitted false Section 1057 report to Congress claiming zero civilian deaths from 2025 boat-strike campaign
The War Department delivered its mandatory Section 1057 annual civilian-casualty report to Congress on August 11, 2026, attributing zero civilian deaths to the Trump administration's 2025 campaign of lethal boat strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific despite independent reporting documenting more than 120 deaths. The same report found U.S. strikes in Yemen's Operation Rough Rider killed 153 civilians in 2025, a figure two government officials called a "lowball" undercount of the Yemen Data Project's tally of at least 238 killed. Officials who reviewed the report internally described it to The Intercept as a "total whitewash."
ProPublica investigation found DOGE cuts left OPM FOIA office unable to fulfill records requests
A ProPublica investigation published August 11, 2026 found that the Office of Personnel Management's FOIA and Privacy Act office has become largely non-functional since the Department of Government Efficiency's early-2025 staffing cuts, which eliminated more than 600 government-information specialists across federal agencies, including 12 of OPM's own. OPM's FOIA backlog grew to over 1,600 requests by the end of fiscal 2025 — seven times the prior year's total — and average processing time doubled to more than 84 days, while a reporter attempting to file a routine request in July 2026 was bounced between broken web portals and abandoned email inboxes for weeks. OPM did not respond to a request for comment.
NOAA ended federal funding and coordination for the Arctic Report Card, jeopardizing its future publication
On August 10, 2026, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration informed editors of its Arctic Report Card — a peer-reviewed annual assessment of Arctic climate change compiled with more than 100 scientists from around the world over the report's 20-year history — that it was ending federal funding and coordination support for the publication. NOAA said the underlying data it has historically contributed would remain publicly available but confirmed it would no longer provide coordinating editors or fund the report's web presence, external peer review, graphics, or public rollout, leaving the report's authors uncertain whether the 2026 edition can be produced. The move follows other Trump administration cuts to federal science, including efforts to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the termination of the National Science Board.
West Virginia Gov. Morrisey circulated unsubstantiated fraud claims, misleading graphic to justify clothing-voucher program's closure
West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey publicly claimed, without evidence, that recipients of the state's $200 school clothing allowance program were spending funds on "beer and cigarettes," then circulated an AI-generated graphic asserting 49.5% of program funds were withdrawn as untraceable cash. The state's Department of Human Services did not respond to a request for supporting data, and Morrisey's stated justification for closing the program early shifted over the course of the week from a funding shortfall to alleged fraud.
Indiana Capital Chronicle investigation revealed Inspector General Jared Prentice halted publication of state misconduct reports
The Indiana Office of Inspector General, led by Inspector General Jared Prentice, released nine investigative report summaries in 2025 but has published none in 2026, Indiana Capital Chronicle reported July 28, 2026. The office continues to investigate misconduct and still announces criminal or ethics charges when they occur, but no longer releases findings from investigations that do not result in charges, citing an internal legal-risk review. The state's own online investigative-reports archive independently confirms the change, listing no completed 2026 reports where prior years list several.
Seattle Police Department withheld shooting information for five hours and gave reporter an altered version of chief's schedule
On July 26, 2026, the Seattle Police Department withheld public information for nearly five hours after a mass shooting at the Bite of Seattle festival in Seattle killed three people and injured several others, delaying its own scheduled press conference roughly an hour to accommodate arriving dignitaries. Police Chief Shon Barnes was out of town at a law-enforcement conference during the shooting, part of a pattern of weeks away from the city so far in 2026, and when a journalist requested his calendar records SPD supplied an altered version and did not produce the original or additional records requested.
Trump signed executive order directing warning signs placed outside National Museum of American History labeling exhibits inaccurate
On July 24, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution," directing the Secretary of the Interior, the OMB Director, the GSA Administrator, and the Domestic Policy Assistant to install temporary warning signs on National Park Service-maintained sidewalks outside the National Museum of American History, notifying visitors that the museum's exhibits "should be renovated" and directing them to alternate resources. The order referenced a July 4, 2026 White House Domestic Policy Council report accusing the museum of treating American history as a tool for social justice advocacy. The Smithsonian Institution declined to comment.
Pentagon removed four Iran war troop deaths from official casualty website, reducing count from 18 to 14
On or around July 22–23, 2026, the Pentagon's Defense Casualty Analysis System website updated its count of U.S. service members killed in the Iran war from 18 to 14, removing four service members killed in Jordan and Iraq the previous weekend. Three military officials told the New York Times the four names were struck because their deaths occurred after President Trump declared a ceasefire in April; Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell publicly attributed the discrepancy to "temporary data disruptions." Trump himself referenced the higher figure of 18 — including the four whose names were removed — in public remarks the same day the Pentagon's website showed 14.
Spanberger administration withheld mandated Potomac Aquifer study for six months until AP's records request forced release
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger's administration withheld a legally mandated Potomac Aquifer study for more than six months past its January 1, 2026 statutory deadline, providing it to the Associated Press on July 23, 2026 only after the wire service filed a public-records request. The Department of Environmental Quality study concluded the aquifer cannot support any new industrial water withdrawals — including water-cooled data centers — in eastern Virginia. The General Assembly passed weaker data-center water-disclosure legislation this session without the benefit of the report's findings.
HHS revised CDC autism-and-vaccines webpage to introduce vaccine-autism uncertainty, replacing evidence-based guidance, to secure a Senate vote
On July 22, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services revised the CDC's autism-and-vaccines webpage, replacing previous language — including a November 2025 addition stating vaccines do not cause autism "is not an evidence-based claim" — with text that said "Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism" and that HHS would continue research. The change removed the CDC's longtime evidence-based position that vaccines do not cause autism without replacing it with scientifically accurate language. The revision was made at the direction of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and publicly cited by Sen. Bill Cassidy as the "sign of good faith" that secured his vote to advance CDC director nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz through the Senate HELP Committee.
EEOC voted 2-1 to advance proposed rule rescinding 60-year employer demographic reporting requirement
On July 21, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission voted 2-1 along party lines to advance a Trump administration proposal to eliminate the EEO-1 reporting requirement, under which employers with 100 or more workers have submitted annual demographic data on staff sex, race, and ethnicity since 1966. The proposed rule would also end reporting for state and local governments with 100 or more employees; it will be published in the Federal Register for a 30-day public comment period, with a public hearing scheduled for August 11, 2026.
ICE narrowed its own death-reporting rules, then released a dying Delaney Hall detainee to keep his death out of the count
In the week of July 20, 2026, a recently arrived detainee at the GEO Group-run Delaney Hall ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey suffered a seizure during intake and was granted a "discretionary release" to University Hospital, where he died soon after. Because he was no longer in ICE custody at the time of death, ICE did not publicly report it, citing a June 2026 policy change that limits its death-reporting obligations to people who die while still detained; Rep. Rob Menendez disclosed the death on August 3-4, 2026 after learning of it during an unannounced oversight visit. The Department of Homeland Security defended the practice on the record, saying "ICE is not responsible when an individual passes away weeks after leaving their custody."
Intercept and ProPublica investigation reveals Pentagon under Hegseth gutted civilian protection unit and abandoned civilian harm-tracking database
Under Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon's Civilian Protection Center of Excellence was cut from 40 staff in January 2025 to nine by the end of 2025, and the civilian harm records database was abandoned during a department-wide restructuring. A May 2026 Pentagon inspector general report found the remaining civilian-protection efforts "largely inactive" and concluded the U.S. could not adequately protect civilians in conflict zones or track harm when it occurred. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and nine colleagues warned Hegseth that gutting civilian harm mitigation capacity had left the administration "potentially in violation of federal law."
Intercept investigation found Pentagon withheld dozens of Iran-strike service-member injuries while official casualty count undercounted wounded
On July 20, 2026, The Intercept reported that the Pentagon had been withholding injury data from Iran strikes, with a U.S. official saying the wounded count was "far more" than publicly disclosed and that the official Defense Casualty Analysis System recorded significantly fewer casualties than actual figures. Secretary of Defense Hegseth's office actively discouraged media inquiries about new casualties, and Pentagon spokesperson Parnell dismissed New York Times reporting on the concealed injuries as "baseless and malicious." Under press scrutiny the following day, Parnell confirmed that nearly 100 service members had been injured since July 7, while the official DCAS database continued to show far fewer.
DHS Secretary Mullin threatened election officials with fines and prison time, citing unsubstantiated claim of 250,000 noncitizen voters
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin held a July 17, 2026 news conference in Washington, D.C., one day after President Trump's prime-time address reviving 2020 election-fraud claims, asserting without evidence that DHS had found 250,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada. Mullin said DHS would make "security enhancements" mandatory for states seeking federal election funding, and warned that noncompliant state and local election officials could face fines, penalties, and prison time.
Navy barred release of sailors' service history in sweeping new press access restriction
On July 16, 2026, the Navy's top spokesman, Rear Admiral John Robinson, issued a policy removing all public-facing information about commanding officers from Navy platforms. The Chief of Naval Personnel subsequently expanded the policy, directing the service to deny journalists and the public access to any sailor's service history — including unit assignments, awards, and service status — information that Pentagon policy classifies as normally releasable. The restriction was reported July 23, 2026 and attributed to broader press-access curbs driven by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
National Park Service replaced the President's House slavery exhibit in Philadelphia overnight, softening Washington's role as enslaver
On July 15, 2026, the National Park Service completed an overnight swap of the interpretive exhibit at the federally owned President's House Site in Philadelphia, installing Trump administration-proposed panels that historians say soften George Washington's role as an enslaver of nine people at the site. Workers replaced the displays "under the cover of darkness," in the mayor's words, days after the Third Circuit ruled that Philadelphia had no legal authority over interpretive content at the federally owned memorial. The new panels devote more space to the early presidency and recast Washington's views on slavery, drawing condemnation from Philadelphia's mayor and civil-rights advocates.
Trump administration appointed climate-science critic Matthew Wielicki to head reconstituted U.S. Global Change Research Program
On July 9, 2026, the Trump administration reconstituted the U.S. Global Change Research Program — the interagency body that produces the congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment — and placed it under Matthew Wielicki, a former University of Alabama geochemist who describes himself as a "professor in exile" and routinely disputes mainstream climate science. The program's office had been closed and its website taken dark in mid-2025; Wielicki will now oversee the coordination of federal climate research across more than a dozen agencies.
DOT directed FHWA staff to strip bike lane safety data from federal websites
On July 9, 2026, Federal Highway Administration staff received an internal email directing them to remove bike lane references and related safety materials from FHWA websites, following Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's July 7 public statement branding Biden-era bike lane funding as "DEI." The directive led to the removal of bike lanes and speed cameras from FHWA's "Proven Safety Countermeasures" list and the takedown of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Crash Analysis Tool (PBCAT), eliminating resources used by safety engineers to reduce crash fatalities on U.S. roads.
U.S. Department of Energy deleted 1,600+ energy-saving webpages amid summer heat wave
At least 1,662 U.S. Department of Energy webpages providing guidance on lowering energy costs and protecting the electrical grid during heat waves had gone dark as of July 3, 2026, according to a Guardian analysis of deleted-URL data from the Internet Archive published July 15. More than 300 of the removed pages had drawn over 160,000 views in the preceding 30 days, and at least 18 were removed within days of a proposed DOE rollback of home-appliance efficiency standards. The department did not respond to questions about when or why the pages were removed.
Justice Department refused a federal judge's order to justify Epstein-file redactions, moving to delay or dissolve it
On July 2, 2026, hours before a court-ordered deadline, the U.S. Justice Department declined to produce unredacted Epstein investigative files and asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan to delay his order two months or dissolve it, arguing it had not violated the Epstein Files Transparency Act. Sullivan had sided with journalist Katie Phang, ordering the Department to justify certain redactions, produce records supporting them, and publish the redaction log the law requires. The Department said it "strongly disagrees" with the order and would appeal.
Education Department withheld its 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection six months past its publication deadline
As of July 2, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education had not released its Civil Rights Data Collection for the 2023-24 school year — the federal dataset used to hold schools accountable on discipline, access, and discrimination — six months after its own December 2025 publication deadline. The department did not respond to repeated inquiries about the delay, which came as it cut roughly half its staff and announced plans to move the Office for Civil Rights, home to the data-collection team, to the Justice Department.
Senatobia police refused to release the incident report and camera footage of the shooting that killed 1-year-old Kohen Wiley
Nearly three weeks after a Senatobia police officer fatally shot 1-year-old Kohen Wiley outside a Walmart, city police and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation refused repeated public-records requests for the incident report, body-worn and dashboard camera footage, and store surveillance video. A Senatobia sergeant declined to release the incident report despite Mississippi law making such records public, and the family's attorneys said every footage request had been denied.
EPA issued draft guidance departing from its Biden-era assessment of PFAS cancer risk in farmland sewage sludge
On July 1, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency issued a draft guidance document that criticized and departed from a Biden-era draft risk assessment finding that applying PFAS-contaminated sewage sludge to farmland posed cancer and other health risks. The guidance, signed by EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Jess Kramer, called the earlier assessment's assumptions "too disconnected from real-world conditions" and replaced its findings with voluntary recommendations. Environmental advocates said the move abandoned EPA's duty to regulate the "forever chemicals."
Reuters exclusive reveals White House suppressed ODNI voting machine vulnerability report for months ahead of 2026 midterms
White House officials delayed the release of an unclassified Office of the Director of National Intelligence report on voting machine vulnerabilities for months ahead of the November 2026 midterm elections. Reuters reported on June 19, 2026, citing three sources familiar with the matter, that officials internally debated shelving the report over concerns it could undermine Republican voter confidence — and separately that some objected the report did not go far enough in supporting Trump's false claims about the 2020 election. The ODNI assessment examined security gaps in voting machines and recommended remedial measures such as software updates; it did not conclude that any votes had been flipped.
EPA's draft TBBPA risk evaluation contradicted its own prior finding that the carcinogen is used in children's clothing
On June 12, 2026, the Environmental Protection Agency released a draft risk evaluation for TBBPA, a widely used flame retardant, finding unreasonable risk to workers and the environment but concluding no restrictions on its use in consumer products were needed. The draft accepted an unsupported chemical-industry claim that TBBPA is no longer widely used in children's clothing, contradicting the EPA's own prior finding that the chemical appears in 96 types of children's clothing, and relied heavily on industry-funded research — including a study from a firm whose founder now sits on EPA's own science advisory committee — despite international cancer agencies having found TBBPA is a probable carcinogen.
White House orders federal AI-testing unit CAISI to stop publishing model evaluations
Trump administration officials, including National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross, directed the Center for AI Standards and Innovation (CAISI) — the main U.S. government body that tests frontier AI models — to halt publication of its assessments pending implementation of President Trump's June 2, 2026 AI security executive order. The order shifts model evaluation from CAISI's public process toward a classified framework run by national-security agencies, after the agency had already published more than 40 model evaluations that served as a shared public baseline. Companies will still submit models for review, but results will largely remain behind closed doors.
ICE ends requirement to report deaths of newly released detainees
Acting ICE Director David Venturella issued an internal memo on June 4, 2026 ending the agency's requirement to report and investigate deaths that occur within 30 days of a detainee's release from custody, rescinding a transparency policy adopted in 2021. The change removes a congressional accountability data stream that oversight bodies had used to track deaths connected to detention conditions. Advocates and public health experts warned the rollback would obscure the human cost of immigration detention as in-custody deaths reach a two-decade high.
DOJ scrubs Jan. 6 prosecution releases, erasing records of pleas and convictions
In late May 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice mass-deleted news releases from its website detailing federal prosecutions of Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol-attack defendants — including guilty pleas, jury verdicts, and prison-sentence announcements covering portions of the roughly 1,600 cases, with assaults on Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers and seditious-conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders among the purged set. The DOJ's rapid-response social-media account defended the takedown as removing "partisan propaganda" from the prior administration. The formerly accessible URLs now return "Page not found" errors.
NIAID bars U.S. disease scientists from communicating with the WHO during active outbreaks
A May 18, 2026 internal directive from a senior National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases official, obtained by CNN, restricted U.S. infectious-disease researchers to attending World Health Organization meetings only in groups of three or fewer and only in a "listening capacity," with any research questions or countermeasure ideas routed through HHS's chain of command. The limits were imposed during active Ebola and Hantavirus responses; current and former officials called barring direct scientist-to-scientist coordination during an emerging public-health emergency unprecedented.
Vance and Oz blamed immigrants for California Medicaid fraud that HHS's own watchdog later traced mainly to corporations
At a White House anti-fraud press conference on May 13, 2026, Vice President JD Vance said "tens of billions, hundreds of billions" of dollars in fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare payments in California were going to "illegal aliens" and fraudulent businesses, while CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz said roughly $200 million in "questionable expenditures" was linked to "immigration-related costs" tied to "folks who are undocumented." An HHS Office of Inspector General semiannual report to Congress, covering the six months through March 2026 and released that July, found corporations — through schemes such as unnecessary medical-device billing and Affordable Care Act enrollment fraud — responsible for the healthcare fraud cases it highlighted, without mentioning immigrants.
FDA blocked publication of its own studies finding COVID-19 and shingles vaccines safe
On May 5, 2026, reporting revealed that FDA officials had blocked the publication of completed agency research concluding that the COVID-19 and shingles vaccines were safe. The findings contradicted the vaccine-skeptical stance of the current HHS and FDA leadership. The suppression was first reported by The New York Times and confirmed by additional outlets.
ODNI terminated its Puerto Rico voting-machine security contractor after a Trump adviser pushed back on findings that found no fraud
Reuters reported on April 23, 2026, that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence terminated its contract with cybersecurity firm Mojave Research in October 2025, after Trump adviser Kurt Olsen pressured the company over its inability to substantiate voter-fraud claims in its analysis of Puerto Rico's voting machines and accused it of secretly receiving funding from George Soros. Mojave, hired in 2025 to test the machines for security vulnerabilities, found genuine software flaws but no evidence that votes had been altered or that the flaws had been exploited; ODNI has said the contract simply ended because the analysis was complete. Later reporting by Nextgov/FCW and CNN in August 2026 detailed the pressure campaign, including Olsen's repeated interventions in ODNI meetings and the cancellation of a planned expansion of Mojave's team from roughly 10 to 60 people.
Trump White House declassified closed FBI file on Rep. Swalwell during his gubernatorial campaign
On March 23, 2026, the Trump White House declassified a decade-old, closed FBI investigative file on then-Rep. Eric Swalwell's past association with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine Fang, months before California's June 2026 gubernatorial primary in which Swalwell was a leading Democratic candidate. FBI Director Kash Patel had pushed for the file's release even though the bureau's own 2017 review found no corruption violations by Swalwell. Swalwell's attorneys sent Patel a cease-and-desist letter warning the release would violate federal privacy law and the Justice Department's norm against election-season investigatory action targeting a candidate.
CDC blocks publication of cleared MMWR study showing COVID vaccine effectiveness
A CDC scientific report finding that the 2025–2026 COVID-19 vaccine roughly halved healthy adults' risk of emergency-department visits and hospitalizations was scheduled to run in the agency's flagship Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 19, 2026, after clearing internal scientific review. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya blocked its publication, objecting to the study's test-negative design — a methodology the CDC has long used to measure vaccine effectiveness and that appeared in an MMWR flu-vaccine study the prior month. A former CDC immunization director called blocking an already-cleared, scheduled MMWR report unprecedented.
Gabbard's 2026 threat assessment drops climate and foreign election-interference analysis
On March 18, 2026, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard released the Intelligence Community's 2026 Annual Threat Assessment and testified to the Senate and House intelligence committees. The assessment omitted the climate-and-environment analysis prior editions had carried — after Gabbard gutted the National Intelligence Council office covering those issues — and Gabbard told lawmakers the IC found no evidence of foreign threats to the November 2026 midterms, a departure from the community's prior findings on Russian and other election interference. Critics charged that the IC's flagship analytic product was being shaped to fit White House messaging.
AP investigation revealed DHS, ICE, State Department and USCIS immigration data had gone stale amid Trump's deportation push
An Associated Press investigation published March 15, 2026 found that federal immigration-enforcement data from the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, the State Department, and USCIS had gone stale or stopped updating amid the Trump administration's mass-deportation push. DHS's Office of Homeland Security Statistics had not updated its monthly enforcement reports since early 2025, ICE's arrest/removal dashboard had not updated past January 2025, and State Department and USCIS statistics had also gone stale, while DHS made inconsistent, unverifiable public claims about deportation totals. Researchers, including the UC Berkeley/UCLA Deportation Data Project, had to pursue FOIA litigation to reconstruct basic enforcement figures.
Interior/NPS database flags hundreds of park signs on slavery, civil rights, climate for removal
An internal Department of the Interior and National Park Service database, authenticated by The Washington Post with current federal employees, flags several hundred signs, exhibits, films, and books across national park sites for removal or revision under President Trump's order to scrub "partisan ideology" and content that "disparages" Americans. Flagged materials include exhibits on slavery, the civil rights movement, Japanese-American internment, racial violence, and climate science — among them at least 30 signs at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. Some materials had already been removed when the database was reported on March 2, 2026, while the department said final decisions on others had not been made.
DOJ withheld and removed Epstein-file records tied to a Trump sexual-abuse allegation
An NPR investigation published February 24, 2026 found that the Justice Department's public Epstein-files database was missing dozens of pages of FBI records connected to a woman's allegation that Donald Trump sexually abused her as a minor in the early 1980s. NPR reported that roughly 53 pages of interview notes were withheld or removed — some briefly taken offline and not fully restored — while other Epstein materials remained public. The DOJ said unpublished records were privileged, duplicative, or under review, and House Democrats and the Republican committee chair each announced investigations into the omissions.
Interior's Solicitor's Office falsely denied holding Karen Budd-Falen ethics records, then released redacted files after press inquiry
Interior Department ethics officials told a researcher for the Center for Western Priorities in writing that a "thorough search" had found no ethics records for senior appointee Karen Budd-Falen, then reversed that claim hours later once press inquiries followed, releasing 91 heavily redacted pages on February 20, 2026. The released documents omitted an updated ethics recusal for Budd-Falen's current tenure and redacted her full list of former legal clients, even though her own financial disclosure lists a dozen such clients from the year before she rejoined government.
DHS admitted its 'Worst of the Worst' immigrant database mischaracterized hundreds of listings after CNN review
DHS launched a public website in December 2025 branding arrested immigrants the "worst of the worst," heavily promoted by Secretary Kristi Noem and the White House to justify aggressive immigration enforcement. A CNN review published February 19, 2026 found hundreds of the roughly 25,000 people listed were described as convicted of or arrested for serious crimes like homicide or sex offenses when the underlying charges were traffic violations, marijuana possession, or illegal reentry; DHS attributed the errors to a "glitch" affecting about 5 percent of entries.
National Park Service removed the Pride flag from Stonewall National Monument, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement
On February 10, 2026, the National Park Service quietly removed the Pride flag — which had flown for years at the Stonewall National Monument in Manhattan and includes colors representing the transgender community — citing a Department of the Interior directive limiting NPS flagpoles to the U.S. flag and other "congressionally or departmentally authorized" flags. A coalition of LGBTQ+ nonprofits sued a week later, arguing NPS's own policy exempts flags that provide historical context — the same exception that allows Confederate flags at sites like Gettysburg — and the Trump administration settled on April 13, 2026, agreeing to restore the flag permanently within seven days.
CBP removed civil rights history, including a James Meredith desegregation story, from its website during Black History Month
U.S. Customs and Border Protection deleted several historical "Did you know?" stories from its public website between February 2 and February 9, 2026, during the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. The removed content included an account of Border Patrol agents protecting James Meredith during the 1962 desegregation of the University of Mississippi, along with biographies of Black explorer Matthew Henson and other Black and female CBP figures, all of which had been posted by CBP since March 2014. A CBP spokesperson told Unraveled the agency was "looking into" the removals but did not explain them.
State Department orders all pre-2025 official X posts removed, accessible only via FOIA
The State Department directed all of its official accounts on X — including those of U.S. embassies and missions, ambassadors, and department bureaus and programs — to remove every post made before President Trump returned to office on January 20, 2025, spanning the Obama, first Trump, and Biden administrations. The posts will be internally archived but taken off public view, with anyone seeking them required to file a Freedom of Information Act request, a break from the usual practice of leaving prior administrations' agency posts publicly visible. A department spokesperson said the goal was to "limit confusion" and to "speak with one voice."
Gabbard's ODNI confirmed it covertly obtained and tested Puerto Rico voting machines, drawing expert alarm over its authority
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, under Director Tulsi Gabbard, confirmed to reporters on February 4, 2026 that it had obtained electronic voting machines from Puerto Rico and tested them for security vulnerabilities, with the U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico, Homeland Security Investigations agents, and an FBI supervisory special agent facilitating the turnover; ODNI cited "extremely concerning" cybersecurity findings without supporting detail and has not disclosed exactly when the machines were obtained or tested beyond saying it occurred "last year." A former senior U.S. intelligence official who has worked on election security called the action "well beyond what ODNI has the authority or expertise to do," and Puerto Rico's nonvoting congressional representative, Pablo José Hernández, said the administration has not explained why Gabbard's office was involved. The disclosure follows Gabbard's presence at an FBI search of a Fulton County, Georgia election office and Trump's calls to "nationalize" future elections.
Karoline Leavitt falsely claimed all 4,000 Operation Metro Surge arrests were dangerous criminals
On February 4, 2026, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a public statement claiming that ICE had arrested "more than 4,000 dangerous criminal illegal aliens" in Minnesota since the start of Operation Metro Surge. An Intercept analysis of ICE arrest data obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request by the Deportation Data Project, published March 30, 2026, found that 63 percent of the 4,030 people arrested had no criminal convictions or pending charges, directly contradicting Leavitt's characterization. ICE possessed the underlying data at the time of Leavitt's statement.
CIA shuts down its World Factbook after more than 60 years, with no warning
On or about February 4, 2026, the CIA abruptly took its World Factbook — the authoritative public reference on the world's countries, published since 1962 and online since 1997 — offline, replacing it with a webpage declaring the publication had "sunset." The agency gave no advance notice and no explanation, declined to comment on the record, and set up redirects that led away from the data while removing the Factbook's historical archives, breaking millions of links used by schools, researchers, and news organizations.
FBI raids Fulton County, Georgia election office to seize 2020 ballots; DNI Gabbard joins
On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a federal search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia election office in Union City, seizing the physical 2020 presidential-election ballots, ballot images, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls of the county Donald Trump falsely blames for his narrow Georgia loss. The warrant followed a December 2025 Justice Department lawsuit demanding the records; Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — who has no domestic law-enforcement authority — joined the raid, ran a parallel election-fraud inquiry, and arranged a call for Trump to thank the agents. County officials said the seizure left them unable to vouch for the chain of custody of the 2020 records.
NPR investigation reveals DOE secretly rewrote nuclear reactor safety rules, kept them hidden until forced release
NPR reported on January 28, 2026 that the Department of Energy had quietly rewritten internal safety, security, and environmental rules for a new generation of experimental nuclear reactors under its Reactor Pilot Program, cutting roughly 750 pages -- about two-thirds -- of requirements including guard-training and nuclear-material-security standards, and loosening groundwater protections. The department shared the rewritten rules with ten companies participating in the program but did not make them public; NPR obtained copies and reported the changes were made without any public comment process, months after DOE officials told companies they intended to cut red tape to meet a Trump executive order deadline of July 4, 2026 for at least three of the reactors to come online.
National Park Service removed the George Washington slavery exhibit at Philadelphia's President's House Site
On January 22, 2026, the National Park Service removed 34 educational panels documenting the nine people George Washington enslaved while living at the President's House in Philadelphia, implementing President Trump's March 2025 executive order directing federal cultural sites to remove content that "inappropriately disparages" Americans. The city of Philadelphia sued, and a federal judge ordered the exhibit restored in February 2026, but the Third Circuit reversed that injunction in June, and NPS installed replacement panels in July that critics say soften Washington's record on slavery; Philadelphia is now seeking a rehearing of the appellate ruling.
Institute of Museum and Library Services funded 'Freedom Trucks' museums that presented fabricated and AI-generated history to the public
The Institute of Museum and Library Services awarded a $14 million grant to Freedom 250 to fund a fleet of six "Freedom Trucks" mobile museums, which launched January 21, 2026 and toured schools and communities nationwide with content produced by PragerU and Hillsdale College. Reporting by The Washington Post, Inside Higher Ed, and independent journalist Jonathan Larsen documented that the exhibits presented fabricated and AI-generated historical claims, including an invented George Washington quotation, a false statement that Muhammad Ali had "disavowed" Islam, and a long-debunked myth that Congress authorized an official "Aitken Bible." Historians said the government-funded exhibits advanced a sanitized, Christian-nationalist account of American history.
Michigan Department of Civil Rights shelved $1.1M tribal boarding-school report and omitted its apology recommendation
Bridge Michigan reported on January 21, 2026 that Michigan's Department of Civil Rights had shelved a $1.1 million report on the state's role in Native American tribal boarding schools, completed in October 2025 by Washington-based consulting firm Kauffman and Associates, rather than release it to the public. Kauffman said the department and the Attorney General's office, serving as its legal counsel, directed the firm to cut its initial 350-page report to 50 pages and remove references to local government involvement. A follow-up House hearing in late February found the department had also omitted the report's recommendations, including a recommended state apology, from the 16-page summary it gave the Legislature.
Trump White House published website recasting Jan. 6 Capitol riot as 'peaceful march,' blamed Capitol Police for violence
On January 6, 2026 — the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack — the Trump White House published an official webpage at whitehouse.gov/j6/ describing the 2021 riot as a "peaceful march" and asserting that U.S. Capitol Police "aggressively" deployed tear gas, flash-bangs, and rubber munitions and inexplicably opened doors and removed barricades that "facilitated entry." White House Communications Director Steven Cheung promoted the page on social media, including a post calling it the "REAL Jan. 6 story." Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis publicly disputed the characterization, with Collins — who was on the Capitol floor that day — saying she found the Capitol Police "heroic."
2025 Events (13)
Interior Department issued memo barring all bureaus from confirming deaths or injuries on public lands
In December 2025, the Department of the Interior issued an internal memo directing all bureaus and offices — including the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — not to confirm deaths, serious injuries, or "emotionally sensitive incidents" on federal public lands. The memo, obtained by The Washington Post and reported June 24, 2026, states "Interior shall not confirm a death" and routes all fatality information through the department's Office of Communications. Former NPS officials said the change reversed longstanding practice of quickly informing the public about fatal incidents to prevent further harm.
Border Patrol agent shot Chicago citizen Marimar Martinez five times; DHS's same-day account was contradicted by its own evidence
On October 4, 2025, U.S. Border Patrol agent Charles Exum shot Marimar Martinez, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen and Montessori teaching assistant, five times through her car window in Chicago's Brighton Park after she followed agents' vehicle and honked to warn others of their presence. Hours later DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin publicly said agents had been "rammed by vehicles and boxed in by 10 cars" and that Martinez was armed with a "semi-automatic weapon" — claims the next day's criminal complaint, body-camera footage and the agents' own reports did not support. Martinez was charged with assaulting federal officers, the charges were dismissed with prejudice in November 2025, and Exum was placed on paid administrative leave rather than disciplined.
E&E News investigation reveals Energy Department banned 'climate change,' 'decarbonization,' and other terms from EERE work products
The Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy directed employees to avoid approximately a dozen scientific and policy terms — including "climate change," "decarbonization," "clean energy," and "energy transition" — in all work products, including the agency website, internal reports, and federal funding opportunity descriptions. E\&E News first reported the directive on September 29; NPR independently obtained an internal email confirming it, contradicting DOE\'s public denial that any such ban applied to those terms. EERE is the federal government's largest funder of clean energy technology, with a $3.46 billion annual budget and a statutory mission under the Energy Policy Act to advance energy efficiency and renewable energy research.
USDA cancelled 30-year Household Food Security Report; placed ERS researchers on leave for disclosing decision
The U.S. Department of Agriculture cancelled its annual Household Food Security Report — the federal government's primary 30-year measure of hunger and food insecurity — on September 22, 2025, and then placed approximately a dozen Economic Research Service economists, researchers, supervisors, and administrators on indefinite paid administrative leave, citing an "unauthorized disclosure." The employees placed on leave were among those present at meetings where the decision to cancel the report was discussed. The report had been used annually since 1995 by policymakers, academics, and advocates to evaluate federal nutrition programs including SNAP, WIC, and school meals.
U.S. Agency for International Development adopted blanket "still interested" FOIA policy, threatening to close pending public-records requests
On September 16, 2025, the U.S. Agency for International Development published a Federal Register notice requiring requesters with FOIA requests filed before January 20, 2025 to reconfirm continued interest by October 31, 2025 or have their requests administratively closed. American Oversight warned USAID on October 31, 2025 that the policy exceeded the agency's statutory authority, and renewed the demand after an August 5, 2026 federal court ruling vacated the Department of Energy's nearly identical policy. It remains undocumented whether USAID has closed any requests under the policy.
U.S. Department of Energy adopted blanket "still interested" FOIA policy, closing pending public-records requests
On August 14, 2025, the U.S. Department of Energy published a Federal Register notice requiring requesters with pending Freedom of Information Act requests filed before October 1, 2024 to reaffirm interest within roughly 30 days or have their requests administratively closed. American Oversight sued, and on August 5, 2026 a federal judge vacated the policy as exceeding DOE's statutory authority.
Trump signed EO 14332, placing political appointees as sole gatekeepers over all federal discretionary grants
On August 7, 2025, President Trump signed Executive Order 14332, requiring all federal agencies to appoint senior political appointees as sole gatekeepers with approval authority over every new discretionary grant announcement, reducing peer review panels to advisory status. The order prohibits federal funding for programs using racial preferences, rejecting binary sex classifications, supporting immigration assistance, or promoting undefined "anti-American values." A "termination for convenience" provision permits agencies to retroactively cancel any existing grant that no longer aligns with "agency priorities."
Trump fired BLS Commissioner McEntarfer hours after weak jobs report, accusing her without evidence of rigging data
On August 1, 2025, President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika McEntarfer via Truth Social hours after BLS released a jobs report showing only 73,000 nonfarm jobs added in July, below market expectations. Trump publicly accused McEntarfer of manipulating the data "to make the Republicans, and ME, look bad," despite the fact that commissioners do not produce employment estimates and McEntarfer did not see the report until shortly before its public release. McEntarfer had been confirmed 86-0 by the Senate, including then-Senator JD Vance, and was serving a statutory four-year term.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem fabricated story of migrant who ate himself on ICE deportation flight
On July 1, 2025, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem stood alongside President Trump during a tour of the "Alligator Alcatraz" migrant detention facility in Ochopee, Florida, and publicly claimed federal marshals had detained a "cannibal" who tried to eat himself aboard an ICE deportation flight, repeating the claim on Fox News and again a month later. On February 23, 2026, The Intercept reported that three federal law enforcement officials, including one from Noem's own DHS, confirmed the story was entirely fabricated.
U.S. Army removed its webpage honoring civil rights pioneer Sarah Keys Evans under the Pentagon's DEI content purge
In July 2025, the U.S. Army removed from its official website a 2014 article honoring Sarah Keys Evans, a Black Women's Army Corps veteran whose 1952 arrest for refusing to give up a bus seat helped desegregate interstate travel. The removal was carried out under a February 2025 Defense Department directive, issued at the direction of Secretary Pete Hegseth, ordering military websites scrubbed of content framed as promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion. An Army spokesperson said the material was "temporarily unpublished" pending review; it remained unavailable as of July 2026.
HHS directed NIAID to terminate Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development funding, ending $258M federal HIV vaccine program
On May 30, 2025, NIAID verbally notified researchers at Scripps Research and Duke University that the Trump administration was terminating the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), a $258 million, seven-year NIH-funded program representing the largest single federal investment in HIV vaccine research. NIAID also ended funding for three monkey-model vaccine research groups. The termination came as CHAVD researchers were preparing to begin clinical trials on a broadly neutralizing antibody approach that scientists described as the most promising HIV vaccine lead in decades. An HHS spokesperson cited "complex and duplicative health programs" as justification.
DHS falsely accused Milwaukee immigrant of threatening to assassinate Trump, then pursued his deportation without retracting the claim
On May 28, 2025, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem publicly accused Milwaukee immigrant Ramón Morales Reyes of sending a letter threatening to assassinate President Trump, days after Milwaukee police and the U.S. Secret Service had reason to doubt he wrote it. DHS pursued his detention and deportation on that basis, and the agency's original accusation remains online without retraction even after Wisconsin authorities convicted and sentenced the actual author, Demetric Scott, to more than 16 years in prison for forging the letter to prevent Morales Reyes from testifying against him.
Interior Secretary Burgum ordered National Park Service to review and remove public content deemed to disparage Americans
On May 20, 2025, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued Secretary's Order 3431, implementing President Trump's Executive Order 14253 and directing the National Park Service and other Interior land-management bureaus to review all public-facing interpretive content and remove anything that "inappropriately disparages Americans" or, for natural features, emphasizes matters unrelated to their beauty and grandeur. Under the order, the Park Service removed or flagged signs, exhibits, and materials on slavery, immigration, and climate change at sites nationwide, with an initial content-removal deadline of September 17, 2025. Interior also posted signage inviting visitors to report content they viewed as negative about past or living Americans.
2024 Events (1)
Florida Department of Education pressured science-textbook publishers to soften or remove climate-change content for 2024 state approval
During Florida's 2024 science-textbook review cycle, the Florida Department of Education directed three publishers -- Savvas Learning, McGraw Hill, and Cengage -- to soften or remove accurate climate-change content from science textbooks as a condition of state approval, including replacing a mortality statistic with vaguer language and cutting references to renewable energy and legislative climate action. A July 2, 2024 email from a McGraw Hill vice president to FDOE's instructional materials office documents the specific changes department officials requested. Textbooks touching climate content were adopted by the state at less than half the rate of other science subjects reviewed that cycle.