Hundreds protest mass firing of NOAA employees from DOGE cuts
Hundreds gathered to protest mass layoffs at the US weather forecasting agency.
WASHINGTON − The U.S. Institute of Peace is suing President Donald Trump, the Department of Government Efficiency and others, following a series of conflicts between the nonprofit and the new administration that culminated in a tense building takeover earlier this week.
The lawsuit filed on Tuesday asks the court to reverse moves by DOGE to occupy the institute headquarters and install new leadership at the organization. On Monday, DOGE team members gained access to the building, with the help of local police from Washington, D.C.
Trump had targeted the Institute of Peace as part of his and billionaire ally Elon Musk’s sweeping efforts to slash federal bureaucracy and workforce.
But the issue, representatives for the institute argue, is employees at the Institute of Peace are not federal workers. The organization, which was founded by and receives annual funding from Congress, is independent of the executive branch.
Tuesday’s lawsuit alleges that, under this status, the DOGE team’s dramatic building entrance and a string of other actions that have upturned institute operations are unlawful.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt criticized the peace organization’s resistance, calling USIP employees “rogue bureaucrats.”
“This is what DOGE and this administration is facing. It’s a resistance from bureaucrats who don’t want to see change in this city,” Leavitt said in a briefing Wednesday. “President Trump was elected on an overwhelming mandate to seek change and implement change, and this is unacceptable.”
A White House spokesperson did not address requests for comment on some of the lawsuit’s more specific allegations but said in a statement to USA TODAY, “Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the President’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.”
What is the Institute of Peace?
The U.S. Institute of Peace was created by Congress in 1984, under then-President Ronald Reagan, and specializes in resolving violent conflicts globally, according to its website.
In a letter to the Office of Management and Budget earlier this month, George Moose, then widely recognized as the president of USIP, said the institute’s work “fully aligns” with Trump’s priorities when it comes to preventing conflict and keeping the U.S. out of wars.
“As has been the case throughout its 40 years of existence,” Moose wrote, “the Institute is committed to the efficient and responsible deployment of taxpayer funds in cooperation with Congress and the Administration.”
The recent lawsuit also argues that USIP advances Trump’s professed mission of increasing efficiency and effectiveness of government.
Yet, the lawsuit documents state, “the President declared the Institute ‘unnecessary’ and directed steps to curtail its vital work.”
DOGE probes began with Trump order
Issues between DOGE and the Institute of Peace began last month, when Trump signed an executive order directing four agencies, including USIP, to reduce their personnel “to the minimum presence and function required by law” within 14 days.
The order incorrectly labeled the institute as a “governmental entit[y]” and part of the “federal bureaucracy,” the lawsuit claims.
The next day, DOGE reached out to the institute and set a virtual meeting for Monday, Feb. 24, according to the lawsuit. Three DOGE staffers were present, along with Moose and USIP counsel.
In the meeting, Moose and George Foote, USIP’s outside counsel, outlined the institute’s independent nature. According to Moose’s recollection, a DOGE staffer said at the time “that they understood our position and would ‘regroup.'”
Rumors of DOGE takeover start
Days after Moose sent his letter to OMB, the lawsuit says he started hearing about inquiries made by DOGE staffers regarding the institute’s building security.
By then, members of Musk’s DOGE team were known to have already gained access to the offices of multiple executive agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service’s in Washington and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s in Atlanta.
Foote emailed DOGE staffers to let them know any “unauthorized personnel would only be admitted with a valid warrant issued by a court,” the lawsuit states. According to Foote, his message went unanswered.
President, board members ousted
On Friday, multiple board members received termination notices via email.
Lawyers for the Institute of Peace and several of these targeted board members argue their removals did not follow proper procedure and are therefore null. Members of USIP’s board can be terminated for wrongdoing, such as a felony conviction; by agreement of at least eight other board members; or by a majority of members of multiple specific House and Senate committees, the lawsuit states.
Shortly after members received the emails, DOGE staffers arrived at USIP’s office building near the Lincoln Memorial in D.C. They were denied entry, the lawsuit states, but returned again Friday evening, this time with FBI agents and a notice that the board now consisted of three people: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin.
And, acting as the remaining fraction of the board, they had decided to remove Moose and replace him with State Department official Kenneth Jackson.
Rubio, Hegseth and Garvin are also named as defendants on USIP’s lawsuit.
DOGE returns, find a way in
Sunday evening, Foote, Moose and USIP’s chief of security decided to terminate their contract with a private security company, Inter-Con, out of fear that DOGE would coerce the contractors into granting them access to the headquarters, according to the lawsuit.
The following afternoon, four members of Inter-Con’s team arrived outside USIP’s office. After they were first unable to enter with their now-deactivated security badges, one ex-employee brandished a physical key that USIP had not been able to confiscate yet, allowing the group to enter, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit said that the building was put under lockdown, and Foote called Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department. The contractors eventually left, after being warned multiple times they were trespassing
Jackson, the Trump administration’s pick to be new USIP president, arrived later in a Black SUV. He spoke briefly with Foote and another lawyer, before leaving the premises.
Hours later on Monday, he and members of DOGE returned, this time to be let in by police officers who had just arrived.
In a statement Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Department said that they were contacted and called to the scene by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Upon arrival, Jackson provided officers “with documentation that he was the acting USIP President.”
According to the police department, all “unauthorized individuals” eventually vacated the premises without incident and no arrests were made.
As they were being led out, Foote said in the lawsuit he and others were told they would be able to retrieve their possessions at a later date.
As of the time the lawsuit was filed Tuesday, he said those belongings, including their cars, remain at the institute’s headquarters.