Federal Data Users

New article by Inside Higher Ed quotes @Lynda Kellam from the Data Rescue Project:

""How do we actually talk to people about what's protected and what those protections are for the data the government is collecting? DOGE has disrupted that trust," she said. "For example, someone sent us a message asking us why they should participate in the American Community Survey when they weren't sure what was going to happen with their (confidential, legally protected) data … There are still those protections in place, but there's skepticism about whether those protections will hold because of what has happened in the past five months."

https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025/06/10/preserving-federal-data-trump-trying-purge

Reading this makes me reconsider my initial concerns about the long-term implications of DOGE actions on our ability to collect data from households, businesses, and other sources. I am unsure if this will prompt efforts to draft new language in the introductory respondent-facing materials for these surveys in an attempt to counteract the damage to trust. One thing seems clear: DOGE's "work" is having severe consequences on the federal data space. Thanks for sharing.