This session will aim to collect presentations and work reflecting back on 25 years of the U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM), which was launched in 1999. Our goal will be to show the history of the USDM process in the past and to capture the current state-of-the-science in what goes into making the map today. We will also encourage submissions that address innovative, cutting edge research (e.g. flash and snow drought, ML approaches), techniques, tools and operational products as potential inputs that will be essential in helping enhance the USDM through its continual evolution in the years to come. In particular, we will emphasize and encourage the need for presentations that can point to specific applications as well as case studies of decision- and/or policy-making using the USDM.