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.
Rewarding Allies, Punishing Critics
Every year, Interior distributes roughly $12 billion in grants to states, tribes, universities, local governments, nonprofits, and conservation organizations. These grants help restore wetlands, clean up abandoned mines, conserve wildlife habitat, improve water infrastructure, expand outdoor recreation, and support scientific research across the country.
Historically, these grants have been awarded through professional review processes designed to evaluate proposals based on expertise, evidence, and public benefit.
Now that system is under threat, as Burgum is cheerleading an Office of Management and Budget proposal that would allow political appointees to override career experts and peer reviewers in grant decisions. The proposal would replace merit-based decision-making with political favoritism.
Taken together, these moves reveal a broader strategy. Cutting staff makes it harder for the department to do its work. Weakening oversight makes it easier for them to hide corruption. Politicizing grants makes it easier to reward allies and punish critics.
Public Trust at Risk
Americans rely on Interior to steward nearly one-fifth of our nation’s land, uphold the federal government’s trust responsibilities to Tribal nations, manage billions of dollars in public resources, and protect some of our country’s greatest natural and cultural treasures.
That mission depends not only on adequate funding, but also on independent oversight, professional expertise, and decisions grounded in science and law rather than political loyalty.
Budgets can be restored. Staffing can be rebuilt.
But once the norms of independence and accountability are dismantled, rebuilding public confidence becomes far more difficult.
Doug Burgum isn’t simply shrinking the Department of the Interior, he is actively working to destroy it.
Tim Whitehouse is the Executive Director at PEER.