US Institute of Peace board sues after firings and DOGE staff accesses headquarters

The U.S. Institute of Peace and many of its board members have sued the Trump administration, seeking to prevent their removal and stop Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from taking over and accessing the building and systems of the independent nonprofit.

The lawsuit filed late Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington describes the lengths that institute staff resorted to, including calling the police, in an effort to prevent DOGE representatives and others working with the Trump administration from accessing the headquarters near the State Department.

An executive order last month from Republican President Donald Trump targeted the institute and three other agencies for large-scale reductions. The think tank, which seeks to prevent and resolve conflicts, was created and funded by Congress in 1984. Board members are nominated by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate.

The lawsuit accuses the White House of illegal firings by email and said the remaining board members — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin — also ousted the institute's president, George Moose.

In his place, the three appointed Kenneth Jackson, an administrator with the U.S. Agency for International Development, according to the lawsuit.

DOGE staff tried multiple times to access the building Monday before successfully getting in, partly with police assistance.

The institute's staff had first called the police around 3 p.m. Monday to report trespassing, according to the lawsuit. But the Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement that the institute's acting president — seemingly a reference to Jackson — told them around 4 p.m. that he was being refused access to the building and there were “unauthorized individuals” inside.

“Eventually, all the unauthorized individuals inside of the building complied with the acting USIP President’s request and left the building without further incident,” police said.

The lawsuit says the institute's lawyer told DOGE representatives multiple times that the executive branch has no authority over the nonprofit.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the lawsuit.

The legal action is the latest challenging the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle U.S. foreign assistance agencies, reduce the size of the federal government and exert control over entities created by Congress.

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that cuts to USAID likely violated the Constitution and he blocked DOGE staff from making further ones.

To the top Democrats on the foreign affairs committees in Congress, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks and New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the “hostile takeover” of the institute was one more sign that Trump and Musk want “to recklessly dismantle historic U.S. institutions piece by piece.”

The leaders of two of the other agencies listed in Trump's February executive order — the Inter-American Foundation, which invests in businesses in Latin American and the Caribbean, and the U.S. African Development Foundation — also have sued the administration to undo or pause the removal of most of their staff and cancellation of most of their contracts.

A federal judge ruled last week that it would be legal to remove most contracts and staff from the U.S.-Africa agency, which invested millions of dollars in African small businesses.

But the judge also ordered the government to prepare DOGE staff to explain what steps they were taking to maintain the agency at “the minimum presence and function required by law.”

A White House spokesperson, Anna Kelly, has said in response to the U.S.-Africa foundation case that “entitled, rogue bureaucrats have no authority to defy” Trump's executive orders or "physically bar his representatives from entering the agencies they run.”

___

Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.