Doge-Affiliated Action According to court documents revealed in a recently filed lawsuit, the chairman of the U.S. Peace Institute, an independent think tank funded by Congress, has moved its $500 million head office building to move its free of charge to the General Services Bureau.
Tensions at USIP have escalated for several weeks, when the Trump administration fired the agency’s 10 voting committee members on March 14, denying USIP staff access to Doge’s representatives at the front door. Three days later, Doge employees are reportedly entering the building and using the physical keys of a former security contractor. The dramatic conflict culminated in a complete takeover, with former State Department civil servant Kenneth Jackson taking on the role of president. As of past Fridays, most USIP staff have received termination notices.
Former USIP officials have since filed lawsuits against Jackson, Doge, Donald Trump and other members of the Trump administration, calling for immediate intervention “stop defendants from completing illegal dismantling of the institute.” US District Judge Beryl Howell rejected a USIP request for a temporary restraining order that would revive the Institute’s board of directors on March 19, but she scathedly criticised Doge’s conquest in court.
Court documents filed by the defendants on Monday reveal the next phase of Doge’s USIP plan. As of March 25, Doge staff member Nate Cavanaugh, formally installed at the GSA, replaced Jackson as the representative president of the institute, documents show. They further state that Cavanaugh has been instructed to transfer USIP assets (including its real estate) to the GSA. The letter detailing these changes and directions was signed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Cavanaugh did not immediately respond to Wired’s request for comment. The Department of Justice’s chief attorney in this case also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In another undated letter, also included in a batch of documents filed in the court, Cavanaugh wrote to Acting GSA Administrator Stephen Ehikian: building. “
Cavanaugh estimates the building’s “fair market value” of $500 million.
In another letter included in the docket in the lawsuit dated March 29, Russell Vought, Architects, Management and Budget Director for Project 2025, wrote to approving the request to “set the amount of refunds for the relocation of the US Institute of Peace (USIP) headquarters building.”
To make this clear, Doge has ousted non-executive directors and staff, set up one of its own GSA staff as president, who is now trying to hand over a $500 million head office to the agency he came to at zero cost.
“The efforts to move the building to GSA are part of the Doge Playbook to run agents through Wood Chipper, and that’s what they’re trying to do,” argues George Foote, a longtime external advisor at USIP. “They are trying to kill the agents, but that’s not the right they have to do.”
The former USIP staff attorney filed a motion Monday to prevent the transfer of assets. In an application to the opposing court, the government’s lawyers alleged that “the Institute is an executive body and has decided to transfer the executive order, its statutory authority and its excess property to the GSA.”
Judge Howell will decide Tuesday whether the transfer will be permitted in court. A broader ruling for the USIP case is expected by the end of the month.
Additional report by Matt Giles.
