Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum gave a DOGE-tied aide control over the finances, contracting and staffing arms of the agency in an order Thursday, delegating him “any authority necessary” to the department’s central administrative functions.
Tyler Hassen, a former oil executive, was one of seven officials to sit with Elon Musk for a DOGE interview with Fox News in late March. A post on DOGE’s X page showed him at the Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, where he appeared to be involved in the controversial project to increase water flows in California. That effort nearly flooded local communities.
In March, Hassen was quietly promoted to assistant secretary for policy, management and budget at Interior. Burgum’s new order gives Hassen authority to reorganize and optimize all of the agency’s administrative functions.