Washington, DC — In one of his first acts as Interior’s acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget, Tyler Hassen violated whistleblower protections and placed the security of the agency’s most sensitive data at risk, according to a legal filing by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). His actions to remove one of Interior’s senior lawyers, chief information, and chief cybersecurity officers were not only ill-founded and improper but raise serious questions about his fitness to serve in a senior position.

Tyler Hassen is a 42-year-old former oil field services company executive with no prior governmental experience. He arrived at Interior as part of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team and has been retained by Secretary Doug Burgum to serve in its top administrative position in an acting capacity. On April 4, 2025, Hassen proposed to fire Anthony Irish, Interior’s Associate Solicitor for General Law, because he felt Irish had been obstructive of DOGE’s attempt to gain not just access but unfettered control of the Federal Personnel Payroll System, bypassing key cybersecurity safeguards.

A response filed by PEER as Irish’s legal representative charges that Hassen –

• Needlessly placed sensitive financial and personal information for more than a quarter million federal employees within 53 federal agencies, including the U.S. Supreme Court, in significant jeopardy;
• Violated the Whistleblower Protection Act prohibition against retaliation of employees for identifying potential violations of law and gross mismanagement; and
• Predetermined his action and misstated both the facts and governing law.

“In seeking to remove Tony Irish, Tyler Hassen has demonstrated his own unfitness for federal service,” stated PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse, a former senior enforcement attorney for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, pointing out that Hassen is not even within Irish’s chain-of-command and that Irish’s superiors did not object to his actions. “This type of corporate bullying is not how the people’s business is supposed to be conducted.”

JoDee Hanson, Senior Advisor to the Secretary, will decide Tony Irish’s immediate fate. If she upholds the proposed removal, Irish can appeal that action to the Merits Systems Protection Board, the federal civil service court.

“This episode epitomizes the cruelty, ignorance, and gross mismanagement ignited by DOGE in the federal service,” Whitehouse added, noting that Hassen was unable to even identify what specific act of misconduct Irish allegedly committed. “How this case is handled will indicate whether the rule of law still applies within the Department of the Interior.”

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Read the charges against Hassen

Revisit Hassen’s attempt to remove Tony Irish

See Secretarial Order establishing Hassen’s duties