Interior Secretary Doug Burgum is facing mounting criticism from his own former staffers over alleged secrecy, document destruction, and mismanagement, problems that collided publicly when Washington's top prosecutor accused his department of withholding evidence in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool case.
Eight former Interior Department officials and five industry lobbyists told POLITICO that Burgum's tenure has been marked by confusion, mass departures of senior staff, nondisclosure agreements, and a culture in which officials routinely shredded documents and used disappearing messages on the encrypted app Signal, even for routine scheduling, to avoid creating records required under the Federal Records Act, the law that mandates preservation of government communications.
The complaints paint a picture of a department hollowed out from the inside. Interior's workforce has shrunk by close to 14 percent since Burgum took over, according to Office of Personnel Management data. A parade of senior appointees, including the department's Senate-confirmed top lawyer, its chief of staff, its congressional affairs director, and its assistant secretary for land and minerals management, have all departed. Three former officials blamed Burgum's chief of staff, JoDee Hanson, at least partly for their decisions to leave.
The internal dysfunction burst into public view through the Reflecting Pool controversy. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, Washington D.C.'s top federal prosecutor, abruptly moved to dismiss criminal charges against several defendants, including a former Olympic canoeist, who had been indicted for allegedly vandalizing the pool's liner. In a court filing, Pirro said Interior officials had failed to provide timely evidence despite "dozens and dozens" of inquiries from federal prosecutors.
When the evidence finally arrived, it told a different story than the one Burgum's department had promoted. The damage, Pirro's filing indicated, resulted from shoddy installation work, not deliberate destruction. Pirro put the blame squarely on Interior, writing in the filing:
"Had [Interior] been forthcoming with the information clearly in its possession, the government would not have sought a grand jury indictment."
That is an extraordinary statement from a federal prosecutor about a cabinet department run by a member of her own administration. It means prosecutors asked Interior over and over for the facts, got nothing useful, and then charged people based on incomplete information, only to discover the department had been sitting on evidence that undercut the entire case.
Pirro then went further. On Monday, she accused Burgum of shirking responsibility by covering up the botched repairs during an hourlong Oval Office meeting with President Trump, as AP News reported. The White House confirmed Trump was not aware ahead of time that Pirro's office would drop the charges, raising questions about how and whether aides deliver unwelcome information to the president.
Trump himself publicly rebuked Pirro over the dropped charges, maintaining that the damage amounted to vandalism. Burgum has stood by that explanation as well.
But the no-bid contract Interior awarded to a Virginia company for the pool's renovation has ballooned millions of dollars over budget, and a federal judge has already dismissed the felony charge against the Olympic canoeist. Defense lawyers for the canoeist, David Hearn, said the case was "motivated by political considerations and devoid of adequate factual support," Breitbart reported.
The Reflecting Pool mess did not emerge from a well-run agency. Former officials described an Interior Department where secrecy was the default setting from the earliest days of Burgum's tenure.
Two former staffers said employees were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements. Three staffers who witnessed it said officials routinely shredded official documents and used Signal's disappearing-message feature, even for mundane scheduling, to prevent communications from being preserved as federal law requires. Two former officials said Burgum used a private email account for some Interior-related business early in his tenure.
One former official summarized the atmosphere bluntly: "They're terrified of written records."
Early in Trump's second term, "identifiable pods of appointees" began disappearing for hours during the workday to hold meetings in a secure compartmented information facility, a SCIF, a soundproofed room designed for classified discussions, on the building's third floor. One person who heard the comment said Burgum asked colleagues about adding a second SCIF on the sixth floor, where his office is, even though one already existed three floors below.
Interior spokesperson Katie Martin denied that Burgum ever asked for an additional SCIF. She said a $215,000 contract awarded in early May to Bridges System Integration, a Virginia company specializing in secure office technology, was for an audiovisual upgrade to the existing facility. Federal contract records confirm the contract, labeled "SCIF AV UPGRADE," went to Bridges System Integration. The company declined to comment.
Martin justified the SCIF usage by pointing to Burgum's role as chair of the National Energy Dominance Council, a body Trump created in January 2025, which she said gives Burgum a seat on the National Security Council and access to sensitive intelligence matters.
Martin dismissed the broader allegations. She said there is "zero truth" to claims Burgum used a personal email for government business and that the department "follows all federal records management obligations." She called the complaints "anonymous and false attacks" that "have been proven to be Fake News by the record of success at the Department." She added: "The only culture of paranoid secrecy is inside the heads of those stricken with TDS."
Not all the criticism came from anonymous sources. Tony Irish, who worked at Interior for more than 20 years, including as associate solicitor for general law, spoke on the record to POLITICO. His assessment was withering.
Irish said Burgum told POLITICO:
"Burgum appears to combine arrogance with an utter lack of curiosity or humility to seek out the advice of people who have dedicated their professional careers to [Interior's] objectives."
He added that it is "abundantly clear" Burgum does not solicit or value the opinions of career staffers. "I think it shows his disdain for the rank and file," Irish said.
The departure list is long. William Doffermyre, the Senate-confirmed top lawyer, left. Wynn Radford, the chief of staff, left. Matt Schafle, the congressional affairs director, left. Leslie Beyer, the Senate-confirmed assistant secretary for land and minerals management, left only months after being confirmed. Adam Suess, a senior counselor, left. Tyler Hassen, who led Interior's reorganization under the DOGE government-efficiency initiative spearheaded by Elon Musk, left.
Several departing officials offered polite statements. Schafle called working for Burgum "the privilege of a lifetime." Tyner said in an email he "thoroughly enjoyed" it. Hassen said he was "grateful for the opportunity to have worked for and learned from an outstanding leader." Doffermyre, Radford, Beyer, and Suess either declined to comment or did not respond.
Three former officials said Hanson, Burgum's chief of staff who has worked with him since the late 1990s at his former company Great Plains Software, had caused subordinates to cry with her rough management style. The Atlantic reported she demanded that appointees use the agency's industrial ovens to bake chocolate chip cookies for Burgum and visitors. Martin said Hanson "exudes professionalism and class" and that allegations of "improper behavior" are false. Hanson did not respond to requests for comment.
Separate from the management turmoil, POLITICO reported on potential conflicts of interest involving Karen Budd-Falen, a high-ranking Interior official who worked at the department during the first Trump administration and rejoined in early 2025. Interior never publicly announced her return. Budd-Falen disclosed her own hiring in an interview with a Wyoming media outlet.
Budd-Falen owns at least five ranching operations on lands in Wyoming and Nevada, each valued at more than $1 million, and holds Bureau of Land Management permits. She has been working on a range of grazing and other land management policies, the very policies that directly affect her own financial interests.
In March, she received a partial ethics waiver to work on grazing policy of "general applicability." An Interior spokesperson said she "has complied, and continues to comply, with any and all legal requirements, ethical standards and ethics guidelines."
But during the first Trump administration, the New York Times reported that Budd-Falen's husband secured a $3.5 million water rights deal in Nevada between his ranch and a lithium mining company that had federal approvals pending before Interior. She never disclosed that profit. Budd-Falen did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has pressed Pirro to reopen the Reflecting Pool cases, citing new damage claims, a sign the president remains engaged on the issue even as the factual ground has shifted beneath his administration's original narrative.
The dysfunction may trace back to a mismatch between ambition and assignment. Burgum, the former governor of North Dakota, originally sought the nomination as secretary of State. When that did not materialize, he pursued the Commerce Department or a role as White House chief of staff. He agreed to helm Interior only after Trump created the National Energy Dominance Council and placed him as its chair, giving him a portfolio that extended well beyond the department's traditional mandate of managing federal lands and natural resources.
Once installed, Burgum took charge of the administration's effort to stall renewable energy projects at Trump's direction. He staunchly supported the president's agenda, including the workforce reductions that shrank the department through the DOGE efficiency sprint, buyouts, and early retirements.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt defended Burgum, saying Trump "has tremendous respect" for him and calling him "one of the most valuable members of his cabinet." She added:
"The president is deeply grateful for the secretary's incredible work to make our country beautiful again and unleash American energy dominance."
Martin, the Interior spokesperson, said Burgum has led a "high performing team" with "gratitude, humility, curiosity and courage." That description sits uneasily alongside a 14 percent workforce reduction, a parade of departing senior officials, a federal prosecutor accusing the department of stonewalling, and former staffers describing an agency where people shred documents and communicate through vanishing messages to avoid leaving a trail.
Republican senators including Ted Cruz and Thom Tillis have suggested Trump was receiving "bad advice" from staff on the Reflecting Pool matter, shifting blame onto aides rather than the president. That framing may be generous to Burgum's department, or it may be the beginning of accountability finding its proper address.
Conservatives expect government agencies to follow the law, keep honest records, and tell the truth, even when the truth is inconvenient. A department that shreds papers, hides behind NDAs, and withholds evidence from its own prosecutors is not draining the swamp. It is adding to it.
