Committee Leaders Unsatisfied with NASA Response Regarding DOGE Access, Demand More Information
Washington, DC – Today, Ranking Member Zoe Lofgren (CA-18), Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Ranking Member Valerie Foushee (NC-4), and Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight Ranking Member Emilia Sykes (OH-13) sent a letter to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) further investigating DOGE’s potential to inflict harm on the agency and its mission.
The Members sent their first letter to NASA regarding the threat of DOGE on February 6. NASA responded to that letter, unsatisfactorily, on February 13. Members found that NASA’s February 13th response raised even more questions with respect to DOGE’s infiltration of the space agency.
“Given DOGE’s destructive seizure of power throughout the federal government and the unique conflicts-of-interest that Elon Musk possesses with NASA, DOGE’s presence at the agency creates an unprecedented threat from within NASA’s own house,” the Members said in the letter. “We are thus compelled to demand further explanation on a number of points related to DOGE’s relationship and activities with NASA. Complete transparency on the part of the agency is required. NASA must fully disclose the nature of its interactions with DOGE so the Committee can assess the full extent of the danger.”
In NASA’s February 13 response to the Committee, NASA confirms that an unnamed DOGE-affiliated individual will be embedded inside NASA. The Members demand the DOGE Agent be made available to brief Science Committee staff. They also stress the growing lack of information and transparency regarding this individual, their role, and who they report to is of great concern to the Committee:
“It is also crucial that the agency provide further information regarding the responsibilities, authorities, and reporting structure that will govern the DOGE Agent during his work as a NASA employee.” … “We do not even know whether this individual will report to the NASA Administrator, to another senior NASA official, or directly to the CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk.”
The Members double down on their concern about the lack of clarity surrounding the DOGE Agent’s access to sensitive and proprietary data from NASA contractors, some of whom compete directly with SpaceX. The Members demand details regarding NASA’s process of ensuring that DOGE will adhere to agency conflict-of-interest and ethics requirements:
“We fear that NASA’s acknowledgment that the DOGE Agent will possess “all necessary access to NASA owned or managed resources as required for his duties” may, in fact, be an admission that he will have unrestricted access to proprietary data. If true, this would be a highly disturbing admission. The agency’s ambiguity on this issue must end immediately.” … “Given the heightened scrutiny that Elon Musk’s conflicts-of-interest are sure to bring to the agency, the processes that NASA puts in place to determine and mitigate DOGE conflicts must be ironclad. The lack of transparency surrounding DOGE’s presence and activities within NASA is ominous and unacceptable.”
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