Democratic lawmakers are pressing Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to stop several of his senior aides — including one tasked with reorganizing the agency’s workforce — from accessing a federal payroll system database, citing cybersecurity and privacy concerns.
California Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, and Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan also called on Burgum to reinstate three senior Interior Department officials who clashed with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency over granting access to that database earlier this year.
The payroll system in question is operated by the Interior Business Center, which provides services for more than 50 agencies across the federal government, covering around 300,000 employees.
Allowing Interior staff — specifically Tyler Hassen, acting assistant secretary for policy, management and budget; Stephanie Holmes, the acting chief of human capital; and Katrine Trampe, a senior adviser to Burgum — to continue to access the database raises “profound risks to national security, the operations of multiple federal agencies and tribal nations, and the privacy of hundreds of thousands of Americans,” the lawmakers wrote in the July 9 letter.
