The United States Institute of Peace is the latest congressionally funded institution in Washington to find itself in the legally dubious crosshairs of the Department of Government Efficiency after a bizarre confrontation between officials with the think tank and agents of the Trump administration that involved a police response.
George Moose, the acting president and CEO of the organization, announced late Monday night that DOGE had broken into its headquarters. Employees called the Metropolitan Police Department to report a break-in and police cars were seen outside the building, but members of the controversial agency were later escorted inside.
The social media account for the institute was taken down shortly after from the X platform owned by DOGE’s effective leader Elon Musk, but its Instagram and Facebook pages remain active.
DOGE’s entry – the team’s agents eventually were assisted by law enforcement in forcing out staff members and occupying the building – comes after several unsuccessful attempts in the last week and just days after the administration gutted the organization’s board.
Officials with the institute say it is exempt from a reorganization or an attempted shuttering, as occurred with the United States Agency for International Development, because it was created by Congress.
Here’s what to know about the organization’s history, what it does and why DOGE is going after it.
The institute was founded as a nonpartisan and independent organization to help prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals overseas. It operates programs in conflict areas, conducts research, operates a training academy and public education center, hosts events and conferences and more.
It also works with nongovernmental organizations, higher and secondary educational institutions, international and local organizations, and U.S. government agencies like the Defense Department.
Its headquarters is located in downtown Washington, D.C., just steps away from the Lincoln Memorial and across the street from the State Department.
The institute was created through the United States Institute of Peace Act. President Ronald Reagan signed the act in 1984.
U.S. Code 22 U.S.C. ch. 56 called for an institute to “serve the people and the government through the widest possible range of education and training, basic and applied research opportunities, and peace information services on the means to promote international peace and the resolution of conflicts among the nations and peoples of the world without recourse to violence.”
The idea of the organization began during a grassroots movement in the 1970s and 1980s and came to a head when former senators Mark Hatfield, Spark Matsunaga, Dan Glickman and Jennings Randolph launched an effort to form a national peace academy.
The 1984 act that created the organization came after a recommendation in 1981 from a commission created by President Jimmy Carter to examine the peace academy idea.
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Monday night’s late-night entry was not the first attempt by DOGE to breach the institute’s building.
The newly formed agency has had its sights set on the organization for weeks as it continues to take an axe to the federal workforce and federal spending. Similar to USAID, the institute’s work overseas has made it a prime target as DOGE continues to look for ways to reduce “waste, fraud and abuse.” But, unlike with USAID, the process has been anything but smooth.
Attempts to gain access to the building have been repeatedly rebuffed by lawyers who argue that the organization’s “private and independent status” insulates it from any form of restructuring.
While the institute was created as an “independent non-profit corporation,” it doesn’t meet the U.S. code definitions of “government corporation,” “government-controlled corporation” or “independent establishment.” This is not the same for past targets of the agency.
Moose said the organization had been speaking with DOGE since last month trying to explain its status. He noted that the headquarters is also not a federal building.
DOGE members arrived at the D.C. headquarters on Friday with two FBI agents but left after the institute’s lawyer informed them of the organization’s status, according to a statement from the institute.
The failed attempts came just days after the institute’s board of directors was gutted by the Trump administration. The three remaining members – Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin – said they were installing Kenneth Jackson as acting president. Jackson is among the members of DOGE who entered the building Monday.
The organization has said it does not view Jackson’s appointment as legal given its status.
