WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The Trump administration fired most of the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace and sent its new leader into the Washington headquarters of the independent organization on Monday, in its latest effort targeting agencies tied to foreign assistance work.
The remaining three members of the group's board 鈥� Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Defense University President Peter Garvin 鈥� fired President and CEO George Moose on Friday, according to a document obtained by The Associated Press.
An executive order President Donald Trump signed last month targeted the organization and others for reductions.
Current USIP employees said staffers from Elon Musk鈥檚 Department of Government Efficiency entered the building despite protests that the institute is not part of the executive branch. Police cars were outside the building Monday evening.
USIP is a congressionally funded independent nonprofit that works to advance U.S. values in conflict resolution, ending wars and promoting good governance.
Moose said 鈥淒OGE has broken into our building.鈥� Speaking by phone from his office, he said, 鈥淲hat has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit.鈥�
He said the institute's headquarters, located across the street from the State Department in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood, is not a federal building.
The DOGE workers gained access after several unsuccessful attempts Monday and after having been turned away Friday, a senior U.S. Institute of Peace official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
targeted the organization and a few others in a that aims to shrink the size of the federal government. The administration has since moved to fire and cancel programs at some of those organizations, following its dismantling of the and slashing of other agencies, including .
鈥淎fter noncompliance, 11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president," Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said Monday. "Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage. The Trump administration will enforce the President鈥檚 executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.鈥�
Jackson had been seen earlier Monday trying to get into the nonprofit's building.
DOGE has expressed interest in the organization for weeks but had been rebuffed by lawyers who argued that the institute鈥檚 status protected it from the kind of reorganization that is occurring in other federal agencies.
On Friday, DOGE members arrived with two FBI agents but left after the institute's lawyer told them of USIP鈥檚 鈥減rivate and independent status,鈥� the organization said in a statement that day.
Chief of security Colin O鈥橞rien said police on Monday helped DOGE members enter the building and that the private security team for the organization had its contract canceled.
The nonprofit says it was created by Congress in 1984 as an 鈥渋ndependent nonprofit corporation,鈥� and it does not meet U.S. Code definitions of 鈥済overnment corporation,鈥� 鈥済overnment-controlled corporation鈥� or 鈥渋ndependent establishment."
Also named in Trump's executive order were the U.S. African Development Foundation, a federal agency that ; the Inter-American Foundation, a federal agency that invests in Latin America and the Caribbean; and the Presidio Trust, which oversees a national park site next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
The African Development Foundation, which also unsuccessfully tried to keep DOGE staff from , went to court, but a last week that removing most grants and most staff would be legal. The president of the Inter-American Foundation sued Monday to block her firing in February by the Trump administration.
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AP reporter Thalia Beaty in New York contributed to this report.
Matthew Lee And Chris Megerian, The Associated Press
