The Interior Department gained three new leaders last week when the Senate approved a group of President Donald Trump’s political nominees, filling out what has been a thin bench of confirmed top brass for the more than 60,000-strong agency that oversees public lands and energy.
William Doffermyre will become the Interior Department’s top lawyer, Andrea Travnicek will take over as assistant secretary for water and science, while Leslie Beyer assumes the role of assistant secretary for land and minerals management.
Both positions are critical to advancing and defending the Trump administration’s energy and deregulation agenda.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and his deputy, Kate MacGregor, were both confirmed earlier this year. They have been largely surrounded by a team of short-term — and often changing — subordinates acting on limited authority to keep the agency running until confirmed political hires are cleared by the Senate. The current roster of acting officials includes both political appointees temporarily elevated to higher posts and career civil servants.
