Federation of American Scientists Launches Data Policy Institute to Advance Federal Data Essential to the Public
Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist, to lead during a time of interrupted and discontinued data collection and access
Washington, D.C. – June 30, 2026 – A well-functioning democracy relies on federal data to provide services, measure progress, meet opportunities, and address challenges. Today the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), the oldest non-partisan, nonprofit science policy organization dedicated to developing evidence-based policies, announces the launch of the Data Policy Institute to monitor changes to federal datasets, mobilize data stakeholders to engage with government officials, advance policies to protect and improve essential public data; and design America’s future data ecosystem.
“Federal data are contributed by, and the property of, all Americans. Data are ubiquitous in our society, enabling everything from weather forecasts to school lunches. FAS is particularly concerned about the future of federal data, and what that might mean for our nation’s scientific and technical capabilities and our country’s continued ability to do the ‘impossible’. That’s why it is so important to enable the data scientists and public servants who understand this emerging field best,” says Dr. Jedidah Isler, Chief Science Officer of FAS.
She continues: “Federal data and access to it is not a partisan issue. It is a people issue. Our country cannot achieve greatness without access to the data that measure what we value, who we are, and where we’re heading.”
The FAS Data Policy Institute will fill a critical, urgent niche in the U.S. data ecosystem, taking an entrepreneurial, human-centered, and government-wide approach to supporting the continued flow of essential federal datasets across domains.
“FAS is well-positioned to lead this work,” says Denice Ross, FAS Director of Data Policy. “As an organization that embeds science, technology, and expertise into government and public discourse, FAS brings policy entrepreneurship, a talent innovation model, and a growing network of recently-exited federal data professionals who understand what’s being lost and what needs to change.”
Unprecedented Federal Data Loss and Consequences
Today, federal capacity to produce the data essential for running a modern society—supporting small businesses, families, the economy, public health, national security, and more—has been greatly diminished. Federal data programs are experiencing massive funding cuts, reductions in contracts, and discontinuations of data products. The data workforce is itself at risk, as layoffs and departures hollow out the institutional knowledge that makes federal data useful. This is resulting in decreased data timeliness, accuracy, and detail.
More broadly, modern challenges such as the impact of AI on the workforce and climate-fueled disasters require a level of cross-agency integration that legacy federal data systems weren’t built to handle. Declining survey response rates and public hesitancy to provide personal information further exacerbate these issues. And public understanding of federal data — who uses it, what it enables, what’s at stake when it disappears — remains limited.
Changes in Data Policies Impact Science and Technology
There have been deep and subtle changes over the last year in both the implementation and interpretation of data policies, as well as changes to federal data policies themselves. For example, the Data Policy Institute team has observed:
- Narrowing or bypassing opportunities for public input
- Scaling back data collections to only those required by statute, rather than the full scope needed to effectively serve the American people
- Backsliding on data policies necessary to identify demographic, geographic, and other disparities
- Increasing barriers to public and researcher access to critical federal datasets
- Loss of opportunities for agency staff to confer with outside experts on complex technical matters, through advisory committees and conferences
“These changes are worrisome because scientific discovery depends on rich data; that is, data that provide decades of perspective as well as continuously expanded datasets as technologies improve,” says Melanie Klein, Senior Associate.
Americans Benefit When Federal Data Policies are Modern and Resilient
As the capacity of the federal government to produce data erodes, some federal collections will be absolutely essential to be preserved; however, it would be shortsighted to advocate for rebuilding the infrastructure as it was.
In the short term, the Data Policy Institute is scaling our established monitoring and public engagement offerings at dataindex.us to cover more federal agencies and types of data, and to expand the storytelling about why federal data matter at essentialdata.us.
In the medium term, this shifts into developing new policies and practices to strengthen the federal data ecosystem and set the stage for America’s future data needs.
In the long term, the Data Policy Institute will establish a government workforce that is more data-policy savvy. This includes making policy people more conversant in data issues, data people aware of policy issues, and building a pipeline of new data policy professionals.
This is all in service of building a national data infrastructure that is more resilient, more representative, and more responsive to the needs of American society. This includes revisiting data privacy, public engagement, archaic statutory divides between types of data, and the balance between statutory requirements and executive branch policies.
###
ABOUT FAS
The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) works to advance progress on a broad suite of contemporary issues where science, technology, and innovation policy can deliver transformative impact, and seeks to ensure that scientific and technical expertise have a seat at the policymaking table. Established in 1945, FAS continues to bring scientific rigor and analysis to address national challenges. More information about FAS’s work at fas.org.
RESOURCES
DataIndex.us
EssentialData.us
“Federal data and access to it is not a partisan issue. It is a people issue. Our country cannot achieve greatness without access to the data that measure what we value, who we are, and where we’re heading.”
The United States federal government invests nearly $150 billion annually in research and development. However, the supporting evidence generates wildly different estimates depending on the methods and available data.
The digital government field has an opportunity to build a more responsive and resilient government by pushing into new frontiers, with new tools, approaches, and even organizations that don’t exist yet. This is the time for radical experimentation, delivery, and exploration.
There is no question this is a Big Deal. If you are a university or research lab, or aspire to work in one, or are simply an enthusiast of federally-funded research, what’s next will matter.