The Trump administration’s efforts to reshape the federal government entered perilous territory on Monday when Department of Government Efficiency workers entered the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Why it matters: USIP officials maintain that their status as an independent agency means DOGE staffers should not have been able to access the building.
- The move also represents an escalation in the government’s crackdown on agencies involved in foreign assistance work.
USIP describes itself as a “nonpartisan, independent organization dedicated to protecting U.S. interests” by helping prevent violent conflicts and brokering peace deals abroad.
- The agency was founded as a nonprofit by Congress in 1984. It regularly holds briefings on Capitol Hill for members of Congress and works closely with the Department of Defense.
- “USIP is governed by a bipartisan, Senate-confirmed Board of Directors that includes the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, and President of the National Defense University,” its website states.
How has the Trump administration targeted it?
President Trump singled out USIP, alongside three other entities, in a Feb. 19 executive order as ones that ought to be “eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law.”
- The order called on each “unnecessary governmental entity” to reduce their functions and personnel to the “minimum presence and function required by law.”
State of play: Following the agency’s “noncompliance” with the executive order, the Trump administration fired 11 members of USIP’s board on Friday, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Axios Monday.
- The agency’s three remaining board members — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — appointed USAID official Kenneth Jackson as acting USIP president, replacing CEO and USIP acting president George Moose.
- “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the President’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people,” Kelly said.
How did DOGE gain access to the building?
DOGE staffers initially tried to enter USIP’s Washington, D.C. headquarters on Friday but were rebuffed, the agency said in a statement Saturday.
- Their departure came after the agency’s legal counsel impressed upon the DOGE staffers USIP’s “private and independent status as a non-executive branch agency,” it said.
- Yet DOGE staffers and Jackson successfully entered the building Monday night following an apparent standoff.
Zoom in: “DOGE has broken into our building,” USIP CEO George Moose told reporters Monday, per AP, describing DOGE’s entry as an “illegal takeover.”
- An administration official dismissed USIP’s claim that its independent status means it is outside DOGE’s purview.
- “We believe that they are an agency within the executive branch, and they need proper oversight by officials who are elected. And career bureaucrats cannot stay indefinitely in positions with no oversight,” they said.
Go deeper: DOGE staff enter U.S. Institute of Peace building after standoff
