House Democrats have voiced serious concerns about the Department of Government Efficiency's (DOGE) growing role at NASA, highlighting potential "conflicts of interest" in a letter sent Friday to Acting Administrator Janet Petro.
Lawmakers stressed that while they acknowledge "a DOGE-affiliated individual ('DOGE Agent') will be embedded inside NASA," this only heightens their fears about DOGE's impact on the agency. They warned that DOGE's "destructive seizure of power throughout the federal government" and the "conflicts-of-interest that Elon Musk possesses with NASA" pose "an unprecedented threat from within NASA’s own house."
The letter also raised concerns over the DOGE Agent's possible "access to sensitive proprietary data from NASA contractors, some of whom compete directly with SpaceX." Lawmakers demanded further transparency, urging NASA to fully disclose its interactions with DOGE and clarify "the formal process to ensure that the DOGE Agent will adhere to agency conflict-of-interest and ethics requirements."
