NASA’s acting administrator, Janet Petro, confirmed that the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) organization will examine payments at the agency. However, she emphasized that safeguards are in place to prevent any conflicts of interest involving Elon Musk.
Musk serves as a “special government employee” under DOGE and has sparked concerns about his role due to SpaceX’s work with NASA. Representative Zoe Lofgren and Valerie Foushee have raised concerns about access to payments or proprietary data at NASA, while Rep. Grace Meng urged Petro to revoke access for Musk and set clear ground rules.
Petro assured that NASA has strict conflict-of-interest policies in place, which will be examined by the agency’s legal office. The policies aim to prevent conflicts of interest with companies working with NASA.
NASA’s workforce received a “Fork in the Road” buyout memo, offering to pay employees through the end of the fiscal year if they agreed to resign. However, this was paused due to a federal court ruling, and Petro reported that hundreds of employees accepted the offer.
The agency is also dealing with uncertainty around the Artemis lunar exploration campaign, with Boeing citing “revisions” to the program despite no official announcements from NASA or the White House. Petro clarified that she had not lobbied for changes to the Artemis 2 and 3 missions as currently planned, but acknowledged that the new administrator would discuss any future directions with the White House once confirmed.
Source: https://spacenews.com/doge-to-examine-nasa-payments