A federal judge Wednesday denied a request from an independent nonprofit created by Congress to promote peace efforts around the world to stop an aggressive takeover by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP) board members, including former U.S. ambassador to Russia John Sullivan, asked the judge in a lawsuit filed Tuesday to stop DOGE from “completing the unlawful dismantling of the Institute and irreparably impairing Plaintiffs’ ability to perform their vital peace promotion and conflict resolution work as tasked by Congress.”
District Judge Beryl Howell said she denied the requested retraining order because of the USIP’s complex position within the government and because the board members may not suffer irreparable harm without the order.
Though she denied the order, Howell said she found DOGE’s aggressive behavior against USIP officials concerning.
Several Department of Justice officials, FBI agents and other law enforcement officials had accosted USIP officials and its contractors while DOGE was attempting to gain access to USIP’s headquarters.
“This conduct of using law enforcement, threatening criminal investigations, using armed law enforcement from three different agencies,” Howell said. “Why? Why those ways here? Just because DOGE is in a rush?”
Howell told the government’s defense that she was personally offended by DOGE’s behavior. “I have to say, I’m offended on behalf of the American citizens who have done so much service to this country to be treated so abominably,” the judge said.
Founded in 1984 under former President Ronald Reagan, the institute is a congressionally funded “independent nonprofit corporation” led by a bipartisan board of directors. The board must include the secretary of state, secretary of defense and president of the National Defense University, but the 12 remaining board members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
DOGE’s takeover of USIP marks the Trump administration’s latest move in its broad assault on independent agencies and organizations that were created by Congress to function without direct control from the White House. The administration has been particularly aggressive toward independent agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
Trump ordered USIP to be effectively shuttered in an executive order in February despite protests that the institute is not part of the executive branch, igniting a standoff between USIP and Trump officials
On Monday, Trump administration officials illegally fired most of USIP’s board of directors. George Moose, who was fired as the institute’s acting president last week, is also challenging his dismissal.
On Tuesday DOGE officials trespassed into USIP’s headquarters “in an effort to access and gain control of the Institute’s infrastructure,” the lawsuit alleges.
“As these words are written on Tuesday evening, March 18, Defendants are literally in the process of unlawfully destroying property and accessing and taking over the computer systems of the United States Institute of Peace,” the USIP officials said in its request for retraining order against DOGE.
In one instance, plaintiffs alleged that DOGE personnel ordered an official with Inter-Con, USIP’s security contractor at the time, to give them access to the headquarters or every other federal contract Inter-Con had would be canceled.
In another, FBI agents went to the private residence of USIP’s security manager, who was on medical leave at the time, to inquire about the nonprofit’s security procedures.
Colin O’Brien, USIP’s chief security officer, said in a court filing he was so concerned after being contacted by an FBI agent that he called his wife and told her to lock the doors at their home.