A team of DOGE investigators eventually forced their way into the “U.S. Institute of Peace” on Monday, March 18. They had previously been refused entry over the weekend. The visit was meant to follow up on the change of administrative leadership which occurred Friday. When they came back, they had the new USIP president with them. They also had a fully armed squad of police. That was the magic key to end the standoff.
DOGE refused entry
When a team of investigators from DOGE showed up on Saturday, USIP lawyers tried to keep them out. Even though The U.S. Institute of Peace has “U.S.” in it’s name, they aren’t officially part of the government, really.
We’ll be back, the auditors replied. Democrats are calling what happened next a burglary.
By way of background, “USIP was founded as a nonpartisan, independent organization in 1984.” It’s reason for existence is “helping to prevent violent conflicts and broker peace deals abroad.”
For some strange reason, the former bureaucrats running it don’t want DOGE to know what they’ve been up to.
In February, President Trump signed an order directing USIP to start packing itself in mothballs. They were to fire everyone not crucially essential and stop all they were working on that wasn’t required by law. The order was ignored. For noncompliance with Trump’s order, “11 board members were lawfully removed.”
That left only Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin. Those three appointed USAID official Kenneth Jackson as acting USIP president. That meant “replacing CEO and USIP acting president George Moose.” DOGE was sent in to do their standard review of the books.
Jackson denied access
As DOGE reported on social media Monday, Moose had “denied lawful access to Kenneth Jackson, the Acting USIP President.” They called the cops. Metro Police Department officers soon “arrived onsite and escorted Jackson into the building.”
The auditors note “the only unlawful individual was Mr. Moose, who refused to comply, and even tried to fire USIP’s private security team when said security team went to give access to Mr. Jackson.”
That tends to indicate that the former USIP president is really upset and has something to hide.
According to the White House, “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.” DOGE has been upsetting liberals everywhere they turn up.
Moose is still fuming over what happened. On Monday, he told the press “what has happened here today is an illegal takeover by elements of the executive branch of a private nonprofit corporation.”
He thinks he’s still running a kingdom of his own. “USIP is an independent, non-profit entity and I will work to stop DOGE’s illegal power grab.“
