DOGE Loses Battle to Take Over USIP—and Its $500 Million Headquarters

The courts have decided against DOGE and the US government in their legal battle to take full control of the United States Institute of Peace, including a headquarters building with an estimated value of $500 million.

In a memorandum opinion, US district court judge Beryl Howell ruled in favor of the former institute board and staff who had sued to be reinstalled at the agency after DOGE affiliates forcibly removed them in March. She also gave a strong rebuke to the defendants in the case, who include the US DOGE Service, President Donald Trump, secretary of defense Pete Hegseth, and several other government representatives and agencies.

“The purported removal of members of the Board of Directors of the United States Institute of Peace (“USIP”) … was unlawful,” Howell wrote in the order, “and therefore null, void, and without legal effect.”

The order states that the USIP board members who had been forced out must be reinstated. It goes on to declare any actions taken by the agency since their removal—including the headquarters transfer—null and void. It further bars the defendants from “maintaining, retaining, gaining, or exercising any access or control over the Institute’s offices, facilities, computer systems, or any other records, files, or resources.”

The ruling caps off one of the most dramatic chapters in DOGE’s government takeover so far. It’s also one of the fullest repudiations yet of DOGE overreach. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The fight over the USIP began with a February 19 executive order that declared the agency “unnecessary” and effectively called for its elimination. In response, the USIP told DOGE representatives that it operated independent of the executive branch. It didn’t work. On March 14, the Trump administration fired the 10 voting board members of the USIP. That same day, according to court filings, DOGE representatives—accompanied by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation—tried to enter USIP headquarters but were turned away.

In court documents, lawyers for the USIP detail a rapid escalation of attempts to access the agency’s property. On Sunday, March 16, two FBI agents visited a senior USIP security employee at home, demanding information on how to get into the headquarters building. That same day, DOGE allegedly coordinated with Inter-Con, USIP’s contract security firm, to enter the building; USIP officials found out and immediately suspended Inter-Con’s contract. It wasn’t enough to stop them.

The following day, according to court documents, four Inter-Con employees showed up at USIP headquarters. When their badges didn’t work at the front door, one of their colleagues showed up with a physical key and gained access. USIP personnel then called the DC Metropolitan Police, claiming unlawful entry. MPD officers eventually arrived—and helped DOGE and other Trump administration officials take control of the building.

From there, the takeover was swift. That Friday, March 21, six USIP staffers received termination notices. Court documents show that DOGE representative Nate Cavanaugh was put in charge of the agency the following Tuesday, March 25, and was instructed to transfer USIP’s assets—including the headquarters building—to the DOGE-controlled General Services Administration at no cost. On Friday, March 28, “virtually all” of the remaining USIP employees were terminated as well. The next day, Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought signed off on the asset transfer—before the courts had a chance to rule on a motion from USIP attorneys to stop it.

For all the fireworks surrounding the USIP takeover, the legal question at its center has been fairly straightforward: Can the executive branch control an independent nonprofit?

The answer has proven to be complicated. While USIP operates independently, it was established and funded by Congress. Lawyers for the fired USIP board and staff members have repeatedly argued that the agency “does not perform any executive functions,” which they claim exempts it from executive branch authority. The government claims that USIP’s taxpayer-funded mission “to extend the United States’ soft power internationally,” along with the fact that the president of the United States selects its board of directors, means the executive branch has every right to replace the board at will.

In previous rulings in this case, Howell had left the door open to either interpretation. On March 19, she denied the USIP’s motion for a temporary restraining order that would have kept the original USIP board in place, saying it was “too difficult to determine” if USIP was likely to win the case on the merits, given its unique structure. In an April 1 ruling allowing the transfer of USIP headquarters to the GSA—in fact, it had already been transferred the previous weekend—Howell again stressed that “ambiguity persists.”

The summary judgment order leaves no such room for interpretation. “The president’s efforts here to take over an organization … contrary to statute established by Congress and by acts of force and threat using local and federal law enforcement officers,” Howell wrote, "represented a gross usurpation of power.”

The defendants have 30 days to file a notice of appeal; George Foote, longtime outside counsel for USIP, says he expects them to. “We are confident we will prevail on appeal, too,” says Foote in a comment to WIRED.

In the meantime, there’s the question of how to revert USIP assets back to the agency. “The headquarters have been, or are in the process of being, leased to the Department of Labor,” according to court documents. Not only that but the USIP's $25 million endowment—comprising private donations and appropriations—was transferred along with the building. The plaintiffs have no idea where that money went.