CivLab's New AI-Powered 'US Gov Graph' Tracks Every Position of Power Across the US Federal Government

CivLab, a San Francisco nonprofit, launched 'US Gov Graph' on 16 September 2026, an AI-powered platform that maps 482 federal organizations, including 339 sub-agencies, and tracks appointments, departures and structural changes. Founder Michael Adams announced the tool on X, calling it 'a complete map of the people and positions of power in the federal government' and 'Palantir for The People'. The platform currently lists six vacant seats and 86 officials serving in acting, unconfirmed roles, and its change log shows 20 updates within its displayed tracking window.

CivLab's New AI-Powered 'US Gov Graph' Tracks Every Position of Power Across the US Federal Government The nonprofit behind San Francisco's GovGraph says its live platform tracks federal agencies, officeholders, appointments and structural changes A San Francisco nonprofit that previously built a platform mapping the city's government has turned its attention to Washington. CivLab has launched 'US Gov Graph', a platform that uses AI to map departments, agencies and officeholders across the US federal government. The platform currently lists 482 organisations, including 339 sub-agencies. Founder Michael Adams announced the tool on X on 16 September 2026, describing it as 'a complete map of the people and positions of power in the federal government'. He called the project 'Palantir for The People', a reference to Palantir, the data-analytics company with extensive government work. What the Tool Actually Shows The platform currently logs 482 federal organisations, spanning 343 executive branch bodies, 103 independent agencies, 19 legislative bodies and 17 judicial bodies. Of those, 339 are listed as sub-agencies. It also identifies leadership vacancies and officials serving in an acting capacity. The tracker currently shows six vacant seats with no current officeholder and 86 officials listed as acting and serving unconfirmed, figures that can change as appointments and departures are recorded. Tracking Federal Government Changes According to CivLab, 'agents monitor official sources to track every appointment, departure, and structural change in the graph'. The platform's current change log lists 20 updates within its displayed tracking window, with individual entries recording appointments and departures as they occur. The tool's 'Latest News' feed also references recent federal developments, including a federal court ruling that found the administration's plan to cut FEMA staffing by 50% unlawful and an administrative stay affecting parts of a USDA reorganisation plan. AP reported that the FEMA staffing cuts were ruled unlawful, while Federal News Network reported on the administrative stay affecting the USDA reorganisation. These items appear on CivLab's platform as sourced summaries rather than original reporting, so readers following up on the underlying cases should consult the cited reporting and court documents. From San Francisco to Washington CivLab is not new to this kind of project. The nonprofit's flagship tool, GovGraph, began as an attempt to visualise San Francisco's government for residents, journalists and other users, with the platform mapping government entities, budgets, meetings and relationships. That earlier version was developed with the goal of making 'complex civic information accessible, searchable, and portable', and was later expanded with a modular architecture so the underlying visualisation tool could be reused elsewhere. Adams has also discussed the San Francisco project's origins and his broader ambitions for civic transparency in a Garden3D interview, where he described CivLab's purpose in part as 'preventing the collapse of self-governing civilization'. The federal version now applies a similar model at national scale, expanding from a single city government to the wider US federal structure. A public map of federal appointments and vacancies could give journalists, researchers and citizens a single way to see where positions are filled or vacant, particularly where officials are serving in acting roles. Such information can otherwise be spread across individual agency websites, appointment announcements and other government records. The Government Accountability Office has found gaps and errors in federal workforce data that can make it harder for the public to identify and track senior officials and understand who is accountable for key policy decisions. Its 2026 report found that some federal entities and positions were missing from the Office of Personnel Management's PLUM Reporting website, while other data contained errors and inconsistencies. CivLab's approach brings those relationships into a single, searchable model, while retaining links to underlying sources for users who want to investigate further. © Copyright IBTimes 2026. All rights reserved.