Maya Nir

In early April 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released two major policies on Federal Agency Use of AI and Federal Procurement of AI – OMB memos M-25-21 and M-25-22, respectively. These memos were revised at the direction of President Trump’s January 2025 executive order, “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in Artificial Intelligence” and replaced the Biden-era guidance.

The North African country of Sudan marks two years of war this week. The fighting between rival military factions – the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces – has killed an estimated 150,000 people and forced more than 15 million people from their homes. Almost 25 million people face acute hunger, according to United Nations agencies. It’s the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. How did Sudan get to this point?

Preserving federal data has long been essential to transparency, accountability, and evidence-based policymaking in the United States. While every administration faces its share of data management challenges, the sheer volume of lost or altered information under the Trump administration suggests these challenges have now reached an unprecedented level.