Doug Burgum’s Destruction of the Department of the Interior
“More reorganizations are in the air at the Department of the Interior under Doug Burgum’s leadership. What good will come out of this latest round of reorganizations, which are supposed to come to the fore in September?
Probably not much.
When historians look back at the unraveling of the Department of the Interior, they’ll probably start with the budget and staffing cuts. They’ll also point to Secretary Burgum’s endless efforts to please President Trump, using hundreds of millions of our tax dollars to fund his vanity projects throughout DC.
They should.
The Trump administration’s deep reductions in funding and staffing have been devastating. National parks are operating with skeletal crews. Scientists are being forced out in droves. Conservation programs are being hollowed out. Entire offices have been left unable to carry out the missions Congress assigned them.
Those cuts deserve every headline they receive.
And so does the rampant corruption and abuse of taxpayers associated with Trump vanity projects throughout DC — from the Reflecting Pool to the ballroom. It is corruption on a scale we have never seen before. But that is only part of the story.
Burgum’s Systematic Weakening of Interior
Away from the television cameras and outside the public spotlight, Burgum is systematically weakening the institutions that make the department effective, accountable, and worthy of the public’s trust. These changes don’t produce dramatic photographs like shuttered visitor centers or overflowing trash cans in national parks. Instead, they quietly erode the guardrails that prevent corruption, protect scientific integrity, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent based on merit rather than politics.
Take oversight. Every federal agency depends on a strong, independent inspector general (IG) to investigate waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct — including misconduct by the agency’s own political leadership. Inspectors general are intended to answer to the law, not to political operatives.
Never has the need for a strong and independent IG at Interior been greater than now. And yet, Burgum has installed Dennis Kirk — a contributor to Project 2025 and former Heritage Foundation official — to the role.
Installing the architect of the ideological blueprint driving the administration’s agenda undermines the independence of the IG’s office, making it political and all but neutering the office’s ability to conduct real and actual oversight. Burgum’s exact goal.
Then there is the administration’s effort to politicize the federal grant process.”