'Looting our country': DOGE slammed for trying to grab agency’s $500M building

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), an independent think tank funded by Congress, is among the many agencies that is clashing with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — the Elon Musk-led group that is coordinating with the Trump Administration in its push for mass layoffs of federal workers. Most USIP employees received termination notices, and at one point, employees refused to let DOGE staffers through their front door.

Moreover, USIP is fighting DOGE and the Trump Administration in court. According to Wired's Brian Barrett, court documents filed on Monday, March 31 "reveal the next phase of DOGE's plans for USIP."

Barrett writes, "The dramatic confrontations culminated in a full takeover, with former State Department official Kenneth Jackson assuming the role of president…. As of March 25, DOGE staffer Nate Cavanaugh — formerly installed at GSA (General Services Administration) — has replaced Jackson as the institute's acting president, the documents show. They further state that Cavanaugh has been instructed to transfer USIP's assets — including its real estate — to the GSA."

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The Wired reporter continues, "The letter detailing those changes and instructions was signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio…. To state this plainly: DOGE forced out the directors and staff of a nonexecutive agency, installed one of its own GSA staffers as president, and that person is now attempting to hand the institute’s $500 million headquarters over to the agency he came from, at zero cost."

According to USIP's outside general counsel George Foote, the "effort to transfer the building to GSA is part of the DOGE playbook to run agencies through a wood chipper."

Foote told Wired, "They're trying to kill the agency, which they have no right to do."

Wired's reporting is receiving a lot of discussion on the Musk-owned X, formerly Twitter.

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Actress/writer Heather Thomas, on April 1, tweeted, "If DOGE wins the ability to STEAL a 500 million dollar building from a non-executive, non-profit, that they have no legal right to dismantle, could your own property be next? And why…. was this illegal act instructed by Pete Hegseth?"

Cybersecurity specialist Jeffrey Levy posted, "This is theft plain and simple. They are looting our country in real time."

Lawfare reporter Anna Bower noted, "Rubio and Hegseth have installed a twenty-something DOGE affiliate, Nate Cavanaugh, as acting president of the U.S. Institute of Peace, per court filing. Before DOGE took control of USIP, the president was George Moose, a career diplomat who joined the foreign service in 1967."

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Read the full Wired article at this link.