National Aeronautics and Space Administration
We largely know about DOGE’s activities at NASA because Riley Sennott forgot to make his calendar private. Given the vast involvement of SpaceX at NASA already, observers have naturally been concerned about what sort of industrial espionage or procurement interference that DOGE might get up to. This fear was amplified when Musk ally Jared Isaacman was nominated to lead the agency. However, DOGE’s activities at the agency have been the same severe cost-cutting and personnel reduction they’ve tried everywhere else. Not even science is safe.
People
Information: Click items to expand
| Source: | Data Reveals Details About DOGE, Government Hiring in 2025 Bloomberg, 1/09/26 |
| Source: | Onboarding documents at SSA for "Employee 2" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
| Source: | Detail from NASA to SSA for "Employee 2" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
Detailed From:
Detailed From:
| Source: | A veteran Tesla engineering manager has joined DOGE, and he's set to attend a NASA layoffs meeting Business Insider, 3/14/25 |
Detailed From:
Offboarding:
Left govt 8/XX/25 (self-reported)
Detailed From:
Offboarding:
Left govt 8/XX/25 (self-reported)
| Source: | A veteran Tesla engineering manager has joined DOGE, and he's set to attend a NASA layoffs meeting Business Insider, 3/14/25 |
Events
2/06/25
| Person: | Aram Moghaddassi, Brian Bjelde, Emily Bryant, Jim Hickey, Katrine Trampe, Michael Cole, Michael Grimes, Michael Mirski, Riley Sennott, Scott Coulter, Scott Langmack, Stephen Ehikian, Tarak Makecha, Tom Krause |
| Source: | FOIA response by GSA for visitor logs in 2025 Document Cloud, 4/10/26 |
| Agency: | Commerce, DOGE, DOI, DOL, GSA, HUD, NASA, OPM, Treas., USDA |
2/13/25
Official Action:
NASA leadership replies to a congressional inquiry to report that DOGE had identified a single individual who would be employed at the agency.
Official Action:
NASA leadership replies to a congressional inquiry to report that DOGE had identified a single individual who would be employed at the agency.
| Source: | Letter from NASA Administator to Rep. Lofgren Democrats on the House Committee for Science, Space and Technology, 2/13/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
2/14/25
Sighting:
The NASA administrator emails all staff to report that “DOGE has arrived” at the agency.
Sighting:
The NASA administrator emails all staff to report that “DOGE has arrived” at the agency.
| Source: | NASA says 'DOGE has arrived' ahead of expected contract reviews Spectrum News 13, 2/19/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
2/17/25
Interagency Coordination:
Joshua Fox emails a few NASA administrators to introduce himself as “one of the attorneys at DOGE” and to also inform them “I just spoke to Scott Coulter about this, but I wanted to let you know that he is planning to go over to SSA tomorrow.” He includes several other DOGE leadership personnel in the email chain. It’s unclear from the message who actually made the decision that Scott Coulter would be detailed to the Social Security Administration.
Interagency Coordination:
Joshua Fox emails a few NASA administrators to introduce himself as “one of the attorneys at DOGE” and to also inform them “I just spoke to Scott Coulter about this, but I wanted to let you know that he is planning to go over to SSA tomorrow.” He includes several other DOGE leadership personnel in the email chain. It’s unclear from the message who actually made the decision that Scott Coulter would be detailed to the Social Security Administration.
| Person: | Amy Gleason, James Burnham, Joshua Fox, Kendall Lindemann, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | NASA Response to FOIA About Scott Coulter Detail to SSA Muckrock, 1/15/26 |
| Agency: | DOGE, NASA |
2/18/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| NASA Detailed To: SSA Scott Coulter 2/18/25-3/23/25 | |
| Source: | Onboarding documents at SSA for "Employee 2" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
| Source: | Detail from NASA to SSA for "Employee 2" Document Cloud, 4/09/25 |
2/19/25
System Access:
According to one agency employee, DOGE workers are granted access access to contracts, partnerships, performance reviews, classified national-security information, and satellite data, among other materials.
System Access:
According to one agency employee, DOGE workers are granted access access to contracts, partnerships, performance reviews, classified national-security information, and satellite data, among other materials.
| Question: | Fuzz: missing identifications for these systems and staffers |
| Source: | Doge Has 'God Mode' Access to Government Data The Atlantic, 2/19/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel, Spending |
2/XX/25
Appointed:
Scott Coulter starts at NASA.
Appointed:
Scott Coulter starts at NASA.
| Appointed: | Scott Coulter 2/XX/25 |
| Salary: | $120,579 |
| Source: | Data Reveals Details About DOGE, Government Hiring in 2025 Bloomberg, 1/09/26 |
| Note: | Missing details |
3/14/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| GSA? Detailed To: NASA Alexander Simonpour 3/14/25 | |
| Position Title: | Advisor |
| Source: | A veteran Tesla engineering manager has joined DOGE, and he's set to attend a NASA layoffs meeting Business Insider, 3/14/25 |
Identification:
A Business Insider article reports that Alexander Simonpour has shown up at NASA and also has a GSA address (meaning he was likely detailed from the GSA). Riley Sennott and Scott Coulter also are listed in the NASA online directory.
Identification:
A Business Insider article reports that Alexander Simonpour has shown up at NASA and also has a GSA address (meaning he was likely detailed from the GSA). Riley Sennott and Scott Coulter also are listed in the NASA online directory.
| Person: | Alexander Simonpour, Riley Sennott, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | A veteran Tesla engineering manager has joined DOGE, and he's set to attend a NASA layoffs meeting Business Insider, 3/14/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
System Access:
ProPublica reports that a DOGE detailee at NASA Scott Coulter has “wide access to internal databases at NASA.”
System Access:
ProPublica reports that a DOGE detailee at NASA Scott Coulter has “wide access to internal databases at NASA.”
| Person: | Scott Coulter |
| Source: | Elon Musk’s Demolition Crew Pro Publica Projects, |
| Agency: | NASA |
c.3/14/25
Detailed To:
Detailed To:
| GSA? Detailed To: NASA Riley Sennott c.3/14/25 | |
| Position Title: | Senior Advisor |
| Source: | A veteran Tesla engineering manager has joined DOGE, and he's set to attend a NASA layoffs meeting Business Insider, 3/14/25 |
4/08/25
Oversight:
A letter from Democrats on the House Committee of Science, Space, and Technology expresses specific concern about the lack of qualifications of DOGE staff at the agency. It explicitly names Scott Coulter, Riley Sennott and Alexander Simonpour as the DOGE team at the agency.
Oversight:
A letter from Democrats on the House Committee of Science, Space, and Technology expresses specific concern about the lack of qualifications of DOGE staff at the agency. It explicitly names Scott Coulter, Riley Sennott and Alexander Simonpour as the DOGE team at the agency.
| Person: | Alexander Simonpour, Riley Sennott, Scott Coulter |
| Source: | Letter to the Acting Administrator of NASA Democrats on the House Committee for Science, Space and Technology, 4/08/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
4/11/25
Disruption:
Luke Farritor uses his admin access to lock out all government officials at multiple agencies from using grants.gov to issue new grants. Instead, all grants must now be sent to a new email address which will be reviewed by DOGE staffers before grants can be posted.
Disruption:
Luke Farritor uses his admin access to lock out all government officials at multiple agencies from using grants.gov to issue new grants. Instead, all grants must now be sent to a new email address which will be reviewed by DOGE staffers before grants can be posted.
4/30/25
Interagency Coordination:
As part of a DOGE-driven effort to find ways to punish Harvard by pulling its grants from the federal govenment, Josh Gruenbaum emails Alexander Simonpour to ask if there are grants that can be revoked by NASA. The next day, Simonpour relayed the request to other NASA staffers and then followed up on May 8th stating that the White House had imposed a 5pm deadline for the information.
Interagency Coordination:
As part of a DOGE-driven effort to find ways to punish Harvard by pulling its grants from the federal govenment, Josh Gruenbaum emails Alexander Simonpour to ask if there are grants that can be revoked by NASA. The next day, Simonpour relayed the request to other NASA staffers and then followed up on May 8th stating that the White House had imposed a 5pm deadline for the information.
| Person: | Alexander Simonpour, Josh Gruenbaum |
| Source: | DOGE Instructions and a White House Deadline: How the Government Canceled Harvard’s Grants The Harvard Crimson, 7/17/25 |
| Agency: | GSA, NASA |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-DEI, Spending |
5/08/25
| Person: | Alexander Simonpour, Josh Gruenbaum |
| Source: | DOGE Instructions and a White House Deadline: How the Government Canceled Harvard’s Grants The Harvard Crimson, 7/17/25 |
| Agency: | GSA, NASA |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-DEI, Spending |
6/26/25
Official Action:
In an email to agency partners, the operators of grants.gov declare that the revised mechanism added in April that routed all Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) through a DOGE email address has been reversed. Instead, agencies are to return to using the tool like that did previously. This doesn’t necessarily mean that DOGE or political appointees will not be reviewing grants, but they have no longer locked other users out of the system.
Official Action:
In an email to agency partners, the operators of grants.gov declare that the revised mechanism added in April that routed all Notices of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) through a DOGE email address has been reversed. Instead, agencies are to return to using the tool like that did previously. This doesn’t necessarily mean that DOGE or political appointees will not be reviewing grants, but they have no longer locked other users out of the system.
7/09/25
Disruption:
At least 2,145 senior (GS-13 to GS-15) employees at NASA are leaving the agency, due to DOGE’s anti-personnel efforts and a proposed budget that would cut the agency budget by 5000 people and 25% of its operating budget. It is unclear if NASA will be able to meet its promise to return astronauts to the moon in 2027 or later send people to Mars with such a reduction in experienced high-level personnel.
Disruption:
At least 2,145 senior (GS-13 to GS-15) employees at NASA are leaving the agency, due to DOGE’s anti-personnel efforts and a proposed budget that would cut the agency budget by 5000 people and 25% of its operating budget. It is unclear if NASA will be able to meet its promise to return astronauts to the moon in 2027 or later send people to Mars with such a reduction in experienced high-level personnel.
| Source: | Over 2,000 senior staff set to leave NASA under agency push Politico, 7/09/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
| DOGE Project: | Anti-Personnel, Spending |
11/04/25
Disruption:
Moving under the cover of the government shutdown, NASA leadership has reportedly permanently closed 13 our of 30 buildings on NASA’s Goddard Campus and emptied them of equipment and supplies. This includes highly unique equipment for testing satellites as well as components for future missions to observe the earth and the cosmos.
Disruption:
Moving under the cover of the government shutdown, NASA leadership has reportedly permanently closed 13 our of 30 buildings on NASA’s Goddard Campus and emptied them of equipment and supplies. This includes highly unique equipment for testing satellites as well as components for future missions to observe the earth and the cosmos.
| Source: | NASA may be quietly gutting an iconic campus with what it calls strategic closures, workers fear CNN, 11/04/25 |
| Agency: | NASA |
| DOGE Project: | Elimination |