DOGE seizes congressionally created peace institute with federal police and FBI backup

"The United States Institute of Peace was as an independent, non-partisan organization explicitly outside the executive branch. Its mandate is to support international peace negotiations, fund conflict-prevention research, train diplomats, and develop policy on preventing war. Congress designed it to be insulated from partisan political control — the argument being that effective peace diplomacy requires institutional independence from the administration in power.\n\nUSIP's headquarters in 🌲Washington is a $500 million building constructed with a combination of congressional appropriations and private donations, owned by USIP and specifically built to house the institute and its programs. As of March 2025, USIP employed more than 500 people worldwide and had active programs in Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, and more than a dozen other conflict zones."

"On March 14, 2025, President Trump — the bipartisan body appointed by Congress and the president to govern the institution. The remaining board members appointed GMGeorge Moose, a retired diplomat and former U.S. Ambassador to several African nations, as acting president. DOGE staffers NCNate Cavanaugh and JAJustin Aimonetti subsequently appeared at USIP's building and were denied entry; USIP's outside counsel met them at the door and cited the institute's independent legal status.\n\nFour days after the board firings, on March 18, DOGE returned — this time backed by 🏛️D.C. Metropolitan Police officers, FBI agents, and U.S. federal attorneys who threatened criminal prosecution of anyone who blocked entry. The combination of law enforcement and prosecutorial threat forced USIP staff to stand down and allow DOGE access to the building."

"GMGeorge Moose, acting president of USIP, saying: 'DOGE has broken into our building.' He told the Associated Press it was 'an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit.' His framing was precise: USIP's architects had deliberately designed it to be a private nonprofit operating under a congressional charter — not a federal executive agency subject to presidential removal authority.\n\nOnce inside, DOGE staffers NCNate Cavanaugh and JAJustin Aimonetti installed Cavanaugh as acting president, terminated nearly all remaining USIP staff who refused to cooperate, took down USIP's website, and arranged for transfer of the building to the General Services Administration. The operations of the institute — the peace negotiations, training programs, and research projects — were effectively shut down overnight."

"USIP to block the takeover, and the case reached U.S. District Judge BHBeryl Howell. In an initial hearing, the court declined a temporary restraining order that would have blocked the DOGE actions immediately — leaving DOGE in control of the building while the full case proceeded. USIP appealed. The case involved a fundamental constitutional question: whether the president has authority to fire board members and seize the assets of a congressionally created independent organization that was specifically designed to operate outside the executive branch.\n\nThe legal argument hinged on the Supreme Court's 2020 decision in Seila Law v. CFPB, which found Congress cannot fully insulate an independent agency from presidential removal authority. But USIP argued it was different: it was not an executive agency at all but a congressionally chartered nonprofit — more analogous to the Smithsonian Institution or the Corporation for Public Broadcasting than to an executive regulatory agency."

"On May 19, 2025, declaring the DOGE takeover 'null and void.' Howell concluded that USIP is part of the federal government in a formal sense but is not part of the executive branch — and therefore the president lacked authority to fire its board members and install new leadership. She declared that 'the removal of USIP's president, his replacement by officials affiliated with DOGE, the termination of nearly all of USIP's staff, and the transfer of USIP property to the General Services Administration were effectuated by illegitimately-installed leaders who lacked legal authority to take these actions, which must therefore be declared null and void.'\n\nHowell called the takeover a 'gross usurpation of power' and said it had 'unnecessarily traumatized the committed leadership and employees of USIP, who deserved better.' She ordered USIP's fired president and board members reinstated. USIP regained physical control of its headquarters."

"The victory was . On June 27, 2025, a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 🏛️D.C. Circuit issued a stay of Howell's ruling pending appeal. The stay returned physical control of USIP's headquarters to the Trump administration and reinstated NCNate Cavanaugh as acting president while the appellate case proceeded. The legal question of whether Trump had authority to seize the institute remained unresolved as of the stay, leaving USIP's staff, operations, and international programs in limbo.\n\nThe D.C. Circuit stay illustrated a recurring pattern in legal challenges to Trump administration actions: district courts found the actions unlawful, but appellate stays prevented the rulings from taking effect while litigation continued — sometimes for months or years. The practical effect was that programs were disrupted, staff were terminated, and operations were shut down even in cases where courts ultimately sided with challengers."

"The USIP takeover was of DOGE physically seizing a congressionally established independent entity rather than simply cutting its budget or firing political appointees. Academic analysis of the case noted that USIP's charter explicitly stated it was 'not an agency or establishment of the United States Government' — language Congress inserted precisely to protect it from executive control. The administration's argument, by contrast, was that any entity created by Congress and funded with federal dollars is ultimately subject to presidential supervision under Article II of the Constitution.\n\nCongressional Democrats sent letters demanding answers and calling the takeover 'brazenly illegal.' Representatives Don Beyer and Terri Sewell were among those demanding formal explanations from the administration. The case attracted attention from nonprofit and academic institutions that feared the USIP precedent could be extended to other congressionally chartered organizations including the Smithsonian, the National Endowment for the Arts, and similar entities."

"The international consequences of the USIP takeover were . USIP had active programs in more than 20 countries at the time of the takeover, including ongoing work on the Afghanistan peace process, dialogue programs in Iran and Iraq, conflict-prevention initiatives in Africa, and training programs for foreign diplomats. All of those programs were suspended or shut down when USIP's operations ceased.\n\nPeace negotiators and foreign governments who had relied on USIP's neutral facilitation role were left without a channel they had used for decades. Experts noted that USIP's value was precisely its non-governmental, non-partisan identity — its ability to facilitate conversations between parties who wouldn't meet under U.S. government auspices. Once it was absorbed into the Trump administration's executive apparatus, that neutrality was gone regardless of what the courts ultimately decided."