DC Police Help DOGE Force Entry and Gut Non-Profit Institute of Peace

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After bringing FBI agents was not enough for DOGE to breach the non-profit U.S. Institute of Peace on Friday, on Monday after some unsuccessful attempts USIP called D.C. police for help and instead police helped DOGE force entry and gut the Institute.

Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” is a subset of a White House IT team, not a government department. When it arrived at USIP on Monday, it did so in black sport utility vehicles with government plates and brought people wearing street clothes who appeared to be armed private security. In later court hearings, it turned out that DOGE brought D.C. Metropolitan Police, Department of State police and FBI agents.

Congress created USIP in 1984 as an independent non-profit, not part of the executive branch of government. It owns its headquarters, so the building is not federal property or a federal lease. Its connections with government are funding appropriated by Congress and some of its board members. Its mission is to champion USA values in conflict resolution, end wars and promote good governance abroad.

For weeks, lawyers have been telling DOGE the institute’s status as an independent non-profit shields it from the slashing DOGE has been wreaking on federal agencies.

Associated Press learned that on Friday, Donald Trump fired eleven members of the USIP board. He only had authority to fire a board member in the event of conviction for a felony or malfeasance in consultation with the rest of the board. None of those conditions occurred.

Trump left only Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin on the board. They fired President and CEO George Moose, who is a Republican, and named Kenneth Jackson as acting president of USIP. Jackson had been lurking around the building, trying to find a way to get in. News reports do not explain how Trump has the power to do this to any independent non-profit he wishes.

The contract for the private security firm for USIP was then cancelled.

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