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.

Positions

Position	Date	Person
NASA 1/XX	1/XX	Scott Coulter appointed «Missing details, but Scott Coulter started at NASA and was detailed to SSA.»
GSA? NASA c.3/14	c.3/14	Riley Sennott likely detailed as Senior Advisor Buiness Insider
GSA? NASA 3/14	3/14	Alexander Simonpour likely detailed as Advisor Business Insider

Events

Agency	Date	Event
2/13 NASA	2/13	Official: NASA leadership replies to a congressional inquiry to report that DOGE had identified a single individual who would be employed at the agency. agency comms
2/14 NASA	2/14	Sighting: The NASA administrator emails all staff to report that “DOGE has arrived” My News 13
2/19 NASA	2/19	Access: According to one agency employee, DOGE workers have been granted access access to contracts, partnerships, performance reviews, classified national-security information, and satellite data, among other materials. Atlantic
March 2025
3/14 NASA	3/14	Access: ProPublica reports that DOGE detailee at NASA Scott Coulter has “wide access to internal databases at NASA” ProPublica
3/14 NASA	3/14	Directory: 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 Riley Sennott, Alexander Simonpour Scott Coulter Business Insider
April 2025
4/08 NASA	4/08	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 and explicitly names Scott Coulter, Riley Sennott and Alexander Simonpour. congressional letter
July 2025
7/09 NASA	7/09	Disruption: At least 2,145 senior (GS-13 to GS-15) employees at NASA are leaving the agency under deferrered resignations and other offers to reduce staff, largely due to DOGE’s 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 expereinced high-level personnel. Politico