Why It Matters
Indiana residents looking to contact their state government now have fewer options after the Braun administration quietly pulled down an online tool that let the public search for state employees by name, title, or agency. The removal reduces direct access to contact information at a time when many state offices have also become less responsive by phone.
What Happened
The “Find a Person” directory — hosted on IN.gov — disappeared from the site’s homepage earlier this week. By Wednesday, the tool’s dedicated page had stopped loading entirely. The directory had previously given the public access to state employees’ email addresses, phone numbers, job titles, and office locations.
The Indiana Office of Technology confirmed the removal and attributed the decision to cybersecurity concerns, saying that ongoing risk assessments identified the directory as a vulnerability that could expose state employees to phishing attempts and other cyberattacks. The office also noted that traffic to the tool had been “very low.”
Even before the formal takedown, the directory had been declining in usefulness. Governor Mike Braun’s administration had allowed the tool to fall behind, with newly hired employees often not appearing in the listings at all.
By the Numbers
The Office of Technology did not provide specific traffic figures, describing utilization only as “very low.” No timeline was given for when the decision to remove the tool was finalized. The directory had offered four types of contact data: email, phone, title, and work location — none of which are now centrally available through a single public-facing portal.
The Indiana Transparency Portal, which remains online, carries salary data for state employees but does not include job descriptions or direct contact information. That leaves residents with no consolidated, searchable way to identify and reach a specific state worker.
Administration’s Explanation
The Indiana Office of Technology pointed to the growing sophistication of cybercrime targeting government systems. “With the ever-evolving nature of cybercrimes targeting state employees with phishing attempts and cyberattacks, the Indiana Office of Technology conducts ongoing security and risk assessments to safeguard state data and systems,” the office said in a statement.
The office added that while the directory served a transparency function, it also “introduced a significant security risk by making data easily accessible to cybercriminals.”
In place of the removed tool, the state has introduced an artificial intelligence chatbot called “Ask Indiana” on the IN.gov homepage, positioning it as a new way for residents to navigate government services. Critics of the change have noted that an AI chatbot is not a substitute for direct employee contact, particularly for constituents with complex or time-sensitive needs.
Zoom Out
The tension between government transparency and cybersecurity has become a recurring challenge for state administrations nationwide. Several states have scaled back or restructured public-facing employee directories in recent years, often citing the same phishing and social-engineering risks that Indiana’s Office of Technology referenced. However, transparency advocates argue that limiting public access to government contact information reduces accountability and makes it harder for constituents to engage directly with agencies.
Indiana’s situation is further complicated by a broader pattern of state offices becoming harder to reach by phone — a trend that makes an accessible online directory more valuable, not less, from the public’s perspective. The combination of reduced phone responsiveness and the removal of the web directory narrows the practical avenues residents have for connecting with state government.
The move also comes amid heightened attention to Indiana’s executive-branch operations. A former Indianapolis mayor recently filed more than 52,000 signatures for a Secretary of State bid as a fraud investigation loomed — a race that has drawn significant scrutiny over how the office handles public records and accountability functions.
What’s Next
The administration has not indicated whether any replacement transparency tool is planned, or whether the Indiana Transparency Portal will be expanded to include contact information currently missing from its database. Legislators and public-access advocates may press for answers in the coming weeks about what, if any, alternative will be offered to residents seeking to reach specific state employees.