US Institute of Peace accuses Doge of breaking into building
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Employees at the institute called the Metropolitan Police Department to report a break-in.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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WASHINGTON – Staff with Mr Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) forced their way into the headquarters of the US Institute of Peace late on March 17, resulting in police being dispatched and duelling claims of illegal activity.
The stand-off was the latest that’s seen Doge staff muscle their way into government agencies’ headquarters, and underscored the often chaotic implementation of President Donald Trump’s bid to radically shrink government.
The US Institute of Peace has been led for most of the past year by Mr George Moose, a career member of the foreign service, former ambassador and assistant secretary of state, who was appointed its acting president and chief executive officer last April.
The institute has maintained it is not a government agency, but rather an independent non-profit that receives government funding directly from Congress.
Mr Trump in February signed an order
After Doge staff were turned away from the institute last week, the Trump Administration moved to fire the presidentially-appointed and Senate-confirmed board, leaving just Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defence University President Peter Garvin as voting members.
The trio on March 14 attempted to replace Mr Moose as acting president with a different official, Mr Kenneth Jackson.
The legality of that move is unclear, since there are specific legislative requirements for removing board members and for the Constitution of the board.
But the White House on March 17 said the action was sufficient to trigger Mr Moose’s dismissal, and Doge accused the long-time diplomat of acting unlawfully.
White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly called Mr Moose a “career bureaucrat who wants to be unaccountable to the American people” in a social media post.
Mr Moose, for his part, accused Doge staff of unlawfully entering its building on March 17, and employees called the Metropolitan Police Department to report a break-in, NBC News reported.
“The employees of our building are not federal employees, executive branch employees,” Mr Moose told NBC. “They are employees of the institute. We have our own, separate board; we have our own bypass authority to go directly to Congress in order to get our money. Somehow, all of those arguments have not prevailed.”
The US Institute of Peace didn’t return phone calls and emails after business hours seeking comment.
On their website, the organisation said the Institute “remains open and actively at work in the pursuit of its congressionally mandated mission”.
Doge followed with a post on X saying that Mr Moose tried to block Mr Jackson’s entry into the building and that DC Police escorted Mr Jackson inside.
It’s not immediately clear why the Doge employees wanted to enter the building.
Representative Don Beyer, a Virginia Democrat, said that he went to the building on the night of March 17 and said he would work to stop Doge’s “illegal power grab”. BLOOMBERG
