President Trump has nominated Dennis Kirk, a Project 2025 author and former White House official, to serve as the Interior Department’s inspector general, drawing sharp criticism over the independence of a watchdog office now facing pressure to investigate potentially improper government contracts.
Kirk previously worked in the White House Office of Personnel Management during Trump’s first term and co-authored a Project 2025 chapter recommending sweeping action to decentralize and privatize the federal government. The nomination comes as the Interior Department faces scrutiny over contracts for work on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which were issued through an atypical no-bid process.
Mark Greenblatt, the former Interior Department inspector general, warned that Kirk’s appointment raises serious questions about watchdog independence. “Placing someone with that background inside an inspector general’s office raises serious questions about the independence of one of the federal government’s most important accountability institutions,” Greenblatt said in a statement, according to The Hill. He noted that Kirk’s placement within an inspector general’s office has drawn objections before, when he was assigned to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last year under Tulsi Gabbard.
Greenblatt raised specific concerns about whistleblower protection and investigative integrity. “You have whistleblowers who come to the Office of Inspector General to make complaints, including complaints about senior political officials and sensitive political programs, and their names and identities are supposed to be kept confidential,” he told The Hill. “But if you have an administration mole in the office, all of a sudden, does that information become fair game to the administration?”
He warned of a chilling effect on internal investigations. “What if an audit into an administration initiative finds problems — will the auditors hesitate to report such findings out of fear from their own IG? Will investigators be punished or sidelined if they conduct good-faith investigations into senior administration officials and uncover evidence of misconduct?” Greenblatt said.
Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, called Kirk’s reported appointment “a fraud on the office and a fraud on the American people.” Huffman noted that Kirk “helped write the Project 2025 playbook for seizing control of the federal workforce” and now sits “inside the office charged with rooting out corruption at Interior,” according to Truthout.
Greenblatt’s concerns echo broader questions about inspector general independence that have emerged during Trump’s second term. In January 2025, Trump fired 18 inspectors general as part of what administration officials described as a “changing priorities” initiative, according to reporting on the administration’s watchdog shakeup. Greenblatt himself was among those dismissed, leaving the Interior IG office vacant for 18 months before an acting head, Caryl Brzymialkiewicz, was installed.
The Interior IG office is currently under pressure from Democratic lawmakers to investigate various issues at the department, including potentially improper contracting for Reflecting Pool renovations. Senate Democrats recently requested a probe into contracts allegedly awarded to Trump associates without the typical full and open competition required for government contracts, according to The Hill.
Kirk’s nomination is pending Senate confirmation. The interior watchdog office is responsible for detecting waste, fraud, and abuse at a department that manages national parks, public lands, and tribal programs.
Sources
- The Washington Post — Kirk’s nomination and concerns about watchdog independence in the context of the Reflecting Pool investigation
- The Hill — Trump’s nomination of Kirk, Greenblatt’s detailed concerns about whistleblower protection and investigative independence, and Senate Democrats’ request for Reflecting Pool investigation
- Truthout — Kirk’s Project 2025 authorship, his White House budget office background, Huffman’s statement on the nomination, and context on the Reflecting Pool contracts
- Congress.gov — Confirmation of Kirk’s nomination (PN1256) for Inspector General at the Department of the Interior
