In recent weeks, Elon Musk has turned his anger toward “government-funded non-governmental organizations.” Now, we are beginning to see NGOs at the fingertips of government efficiency departments. Late Monday, the American Academy of Peace saw reported employees, reportedly flanking FBI agents and Washington, D.C. police, forcing them into independent nonprofits and accompanying employees, according to The New York Times.
Doge has been trying to enter the USIP building since last week, but refused when USIP lawyers told them that the organization was an independent agency that was not under the jurisdiction of the administration. Doge returned on Monday and finally broke into USIP several attempts before he made it.
The Times has details about what led to Doge’s final entry, which should bring about a clear reminder of the location of law enforcement: According to the publication, USIP employees called the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department to report Doge employees’ intrusion. When police emerge, they escorted USIP employees to send them out of the building.
Technically, the deadlock began with Musk’s gang of “efficiency” executors. On February 19, Donald Trump signed an executive order to “reduce the scope of federal bureaucracy” and appointed the Institute of Peace as one of its elimination entities.
Last week, according to the Times, the White House sent an email to the USIP Independent Commission informing them that they were fired. The remaining three board members – Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Defence University President Peter Garvin issued George Moose and replaced him with Kenneth Jackson. Moose believes his sacking is illegal and is challenging. He also argued that Doge had no jurisdiction over USIP in the first place, and told NBC Washington: “What happened here today was an illegal acquisition by the executive branch of a private nonprofit organization.”
USIP has been acting since it was founded by Congress in 1984 and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, responsible for researching and facilitating diplomatic solutions to conflict resolution. It is the reason it is funded by Congress, which appears to be one of Musk’s biggest objections to him and other organizations, to help USIP maintain independence, rather than impact on external donors. Look, this is far from a perfect organization, but if your real goal is to reduce waste and inefficiency, then you are not that kind of goal either. If you have a political agenda to subvert any institution that may object to your government, you will be the target.
USIP seeks $55 million in full operations in the upcoming fiscal year. The deployment of law enforcement will help take over the agency, which will be the ongoing legal battles that have been suddenly expelled by USIP’s CEO and staff and the additional expenses of the resulting military conflict? Hopefully it’s less than $55 million, or we have to have a conversation about the definition of efficiency.
