THE HILL • April 21, 2025
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 the authority to make “appropriate funding decisions” and oversee the “transfer of funds, programs, records, and property, as well as taking required personnel actions.” The Interior Department includes national parks, public lands, energy production and tribal affairs. “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.