Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Thursday gave sweeping authority to an official with ties to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In a secretarial order, Burgum granted Tyler Hassen, who is the department’s assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, the authority to take “all necessary actions” to carry out “consolidation, unification and optimization” at the department and its bureaus.
Hassen, who recently appeared on Fox News, identified as a DOGE official at the Interior, will be able to issue “policy, directives and guidance,” according to the memo.
He was also given the power to make “appropriate funding decisions” and oversee the “transfer of funds, programs, records, and property, as well as taking required personnel actions.”
Interior spokesperson J. Elizabeth Peace said in an email the department was “implementing necessary reforms to ensure fiscal responsibility, operational efficiency and government accountability.”
“We are collaborating closely with the Office of Personnel Management to embrace new opportunities for optimization and innovation,” Peace added.
The Interior Department is an agency with a portfolio that includes national parks, public lands, energy production and tribal affairs.
The order comes as the Trump administration and DOGE seek a broad overhaul of federal agencies, including via mass firings of federal workers.
The Center for Western Priorities, a conservation advocacy group, said Burgum was abdicating his responsibilities.
“It looks like Burgum plans to sit by the fire eating warm cookies while Elon Musk’s lackeys dismantle our national parks and public lands,” said Jennifer Rokala, the group’s executive director, in a statement.
“DOGE’s unelected bureaucrats in Washington have no idea how to staff a park, a wildlife refuge, or a campground. They have no idea how to manage a forest or prepare for fires in the wildland-urban interface. But Doug Burgum just gave DOGE free rein over all of that,” she said.
