Trump administration guts board of US Institute of Peace. Group says
DOGE arrives
[March 18, 2025]
By MATTHEW LEE and CHRIS MEGERIAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration fired most of the board of
the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington
headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest
effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
The remaining three members of the group's board — Defense Secretary
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense
University President Peter Garvin — fired President and CEO George Moose
on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
An executive order that President Donald Trump signed last month
targeted the organization, which was created by Congress over 40 years
ago, and others for reductions.
Current USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk’s Department of
Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests that the
institute is not part of the executive branch. USIP called the police,
whose vehicles were outside the building Monday evening.
USIP is a congressionally funded independent nonprofit that works to
advance U.S. values in conflict resolution, ending wars and promoting
good governance.
Moose vowed legal action, saying that “what has happened here today is
an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private
nonprofit.”
He said the institute's headquarters, located across the street from the
State Department, is not a federal building. Speaking to reporters after
leaving the building, Moose noted that “it was very clear that there was
a desire on the part of the administration to dismantle a lot of what we
call foreign assistance, and we are part of that family.”
The DOGE workers gained access after several unsuccessful attempts
Monday and after having been turned away Friday, a senior U.S. Institute
of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due
to the sensitivity of the matter.
Trump targeted the organization and a few others in a Feb. 19 executive
order that aims to shrink the size of the federal government. The
administration has since moved to fire and cancel programs at some of
those organizations, following its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for
International Development and slashing of other agencies, including the
Education Department.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly pointed to USIP's "noncompliance"
with Trump's order.
After that, “11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board
members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president," she said. "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.”
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The United State Institute of Peace building is seen, Monday, March
17, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Jackson had been seen earlier Monday trying to get into the
nonprofit's building.
Moose said the organization had been speaking with DOGE since last
month, trying to explain its independent status. Speaking of Trump,
he said, “I can’t imagine how our work could align more perfectly
with the goals that he has outlined: keeping us out of foreign wars,
resolving conflicts before they drag us into those kinds of
conflicts."
DOGE has expressed interest in the organization for weeks but had
been rebuffed by lawyers who argued that the institute’s status
protected it from the kind of reorganization that is occurring in
other federal agencies.
On Friday, DOGE members arrived with two FBI agents but left after
the institute's lawyer told them of USIP’s “private and independent
status,” the organization said in a statement that day.
Chief of security Colin O’Brien said police on Monday helped DOGE
members enter the building and that the private security team for
the organization had its contract canceled.
The nonprofit says it was created by Congress in 1984 as an
“independent nonprofit corporation,“ and it does not meet U.S. Code
definitions of “government corporation,” “government-controlled
corporation” or “independent establishment."
Also named in Trump's executive order were the U.S. African
Development Foundation, a federal agency that invests in African
small businesses; the Inter-American Foundation, a federal agency
that invests in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Presidio
Trust, which oversees a national park site next to the Golden Gate
Bridge in San Francisco.
The African Development Foundation, which also unsuccessfully tried
to keep DOGE staff from entering its offices in Washington, went to
court, but a federal judge ruled last week that removing most grants
and most staff would be legal. The president of the Inter-American
Foundation sued Monday to block her firing in February by the Trump
administration.
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AP reporter Thalia Beaty in New York contributed to this report.
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