The Trump administration fired most committees of the US Institute of Peace (USIP) and sent its new leader to the independent organization’s Washington, DC headquarters on Monday, with the latest efforts of the agency’s latest initiatives related to foreign aid jobs.
The remaining three members of the group’s board — Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chairman of the National Defense College Peter Garvin, fired George Moose’s president and CEO on Friday, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press.
The executive order signed by Donald Trump last month targeted organisations created by Congress more than 40 years ago, and other cuts.
Current USIP employees said Elon Musk’s so-called “government efficiency” staff entered the building despite protests that the institute was not part of the administrative department. USIP called police and the vehicle was outside the building on Monday evening.
USIP is a congressional, independent, nonprofit organization that works to promote US values to promote conflict resolution, end wars and excellent governance.
“The Doge has broken into our building,” Moose said. The police vehicle was outside the Washington building on Monday evening.
The CEO pledged legal action and said, “What happened here today is an illegal acquisition by elements of the enforcement division of a private nonprofit organization.”
He said the lab’s headquarters across from the State Department is not a federal building. Speaking to reporters after leaving the building, Moose said: “It was very clear that there was a desire on the part of the administration to dismantle what we call foreign aid. We are part of that family.”
Doge workers accessed the building after eviction on Friday after several unsuccessful attempts Monday, a senior U.S. Peace Institute official said. The formula spoke on condition of anonymity due to sensitivity to the issue.
Doge staff didn’t immediately say what they were doing or looking for in the nonprofit building across from the State Department at the bottom of the fog.
White House spokesman Anna Kelly pointed out a “breaking” with USIP’s Trump order.
“11 board members were legally removed and the remaining board members appointed acting president Kenneth Jackson,” she said. “No fraudulent bureaucrats will be allowed to hold agencies hostages. The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive body and ensure that his agency is held accountable to the American people.”
Jackson was seen trying to enter the nonprofit building on Monday.
Moose said the organization had been talking to Doge since last month and was trying to explain its independent status. Speaking of Trump, he said: “We cannot imagine how our work is perfectly in line with the goals he outlined. We will protect us from foreign wars and resolve the conflict before they drag us into such a conflict.”
Doge has been expressing interest in the US Institute of Peace (USIP) for weeks, but was rejected by lawyers who claimed that the institute’s position protected it from restructurings occurring in other federal agencies.
On Friday, Doge members arrived with two FBI agents and left after an institute lawyer told USIP’s “private and independent status,” the organization said in a statement.
Security Chief Colin O’Brien said on Monday that police helped Doge members enter the building, and the organization’s private security team cancelled the contract.
The American Institute of Peace says on its website it is a nonpartisan and independent organization.
The nonprofit organization states that it was created by Congress in 1984 as an “independent nonprofit organization” and does not meet the code definitions of “government corporations,” “government controlled corporations,” or “independent facilities.”
Also named by the president’s executive order is the US African Development Foundation, a federal agency investing in small and medium-sized businesses in Africa. The Inter-American Foundation, a federal agency investing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Presidio Trust oversees the grounds of the national park next to San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.
And while the African Development Foundation, which refused to keep Doge staff from entering their Washington office, went to court last week, a federal judge determined that most grants and most staff were legal. The president of the Inter-American Foundation sued Monday to stop the Trump administration shootings in February.
