The Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace’s board ahead of a standoff with DOGE members on Monday who attempted to gain access to the building.
The Trump administration gutted the Institute of Peace of „rogue bureaucrats“ who held a tense standoff with a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team Monday that required police intervention, according to the White House.
„Rogue bureaucrats will not be allowed to hold agencies hostage“, White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Fox News Digital Tuesday. „The Trump administration will enforce the president’s executive authority and ensure his agencies remain accountable to the American people.“
The Institute of Peace is an independent, national institution funded by Congress that was established in 1984 under the Reagan administration to promote peace and diplomacy on the international stage.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February regarding reducing the „scope of federal bureaucracy“, which included specifically targeting the size of the Institute of Peace, as well as other government programs, such as the U.S. African Development Foundation and the Inter-American Foundation. That executive order followed one on Jan. 20 that established DOGE and directed agency leaders to establish their own DOGE teams within their respective agencies as part of the administration’s work to slim down the federal government.
The Institute of Peace, however, did not comply with the February executive order to reduce its size to the statutory minimum, leading to the Trump administration to fire 11 of its 14 board members last week, Fox Digital learned.
„President Trump signed an executive order to reduce USIP to its statutory minimum“, Kelly said. „After noncompliance, 11 board members were lawfully removed, and remaining board members appointed Kenneth Jackson acting president.“
The remaining board members include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and National Defense University President Peter Garvin, who on Friday fired acting president and CEO of the institute, George Moose.
Moose is a Clinton-era diplomat who served as assistant secretary of state for African affairs during the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The board replaced Moose with Kenneth Jackson, a State Department official, as acting president.
Jackson attempted to enter the Institute of Peace’s building in Washington, D.C., over the weekend, but was denied access by employees of the institute, an administration official told Fox News Digital.
