Some House lawmakers are raising “deep alarm” over the Department of Government Efficiency’s interactions with NASA and potential conflicts of interest in a new letter released Friday.
“The lack of transparency surrounding DOGE’s presence and activities within NASA is ominous and unacceptable,” reads the letter, which is signed by three Democrats in leadership positions within the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
The note, which is dated February 21 and addressed to acting NASA chief Janet Petro, calls out the space agency for failing to answer a list of questions and concerns laid out in a letter sent by lawmakers earlier this month.
Among the frustrations: NASA has not revealed the name of the DOGE representative that the agency said is embedded at the space agency, described what information that person has had access to, or provided details about what NASA will do to prevent conflicts of interest.
The letter’s signatories are Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the top Democrat on the space and technology committee; Rep. Valerie Foushee, the ranking member on the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee; and Emilia Sykes, ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.
More context: Elon Musk’s involvement with DOGE — and the department’s access to data across the federal government — has sparked a number of conflict of interest concerns. But those questions are particularly glaring at NASA, as the space agency holds “proprietary data from NASA contractors, some of whom compete directly with SpaceX,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their February 21 letter.
SpaceX also holds billions of dollars worth of contracts with the space agency.
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