The order is ‘effective immediately’ and allows the official to take ‘all necessary actions,’ Doug Burgum said.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has directed Tyler Hassen, who has been affiliated with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), to take “all necessary actions” to optimize functions and trim back the agency.
A former oil executive who is the Interior Department’s assistant for policy, management, and budget, Hassen was seen alongside DOGE leader Elon Musk and several other DOGE staffers in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier last month.
Hassen was told by Burgum in an order issued this past week to “take all necessary actions, including appropriate notifications, to effectuate the appropriate consolidation, unification and optimization of administrative functions within the Department and its Bureaus and Offices.”
That includes “ensuring the appropriate transfer of funds, programs, records, and property, as well as taking required personnel actions, to carry out the consolidation,” the directive stated.
The order was signed on April 17 and uploaded on the Interior Department’s website on April 18, according to page metadata reviewed by The Epoch Times.
Burgum’s directive, which is “effective immediately,” will also delegate “any authority necessary to ensure the uninterrupted delivery of administrative functions during any period of transition required to complete the process.”
“It will remain in effect until the plan outlined above is completed and any resulting changes are incorporated into the Departmental Manual, or until it is amended, superseded, or revoked,” it said.
Before he joined the Trump administration, Hassen had worked for oil field equipment manufacturer Basin Energy.
“We are now reviewing every single contract, every single grant, and when things come to my attention that don’t make sense, I’m bringing them to Secretary (Doug) Burgum,” Hassen told Fox News in March, noting that Burgum is also a ”businessman“ and ”very supportive of DOGE.”
