(RNS) — The U.S. Institute of Peace filed a lawsuit against the Department of Government Efficiency on Tuesday (March 18), one day after members of DOGE raided the Washington headquarters of USIP, an independent nonprofit created by Congress to engage in peace efforts. The raid came amid the Trump administration’s cuts to U.S. foreign aid programs under the direction of President Donald Trump’s adviser Elon Musk.
Last month, USIP was mentioned in an executive order on the “reduction of the federal bureaucracy,” along with other organizations the president deemed “unnecessary.” The document directed USIP leadership to prove compliance with DOGE requirements within 14 days.
USIP’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, names DOGE representatives, Trump and three recently appointed USIP board members: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the president of the National Defense University, Peter Garvin. The lawsuit argues that DOGE representatives trespassed and “plundered the offices in an effort to access and gain control of the Institute’s infrastructure, including sensitive computer systems.”
According to The Associated Press, DOGE workers attempted to access the organization’s headquarters on Friday. They were prevented by the institute’s lawyer, who highlighted the “private and independent” status of the organization. On Monday, they returned with two FBI agents.
The Trump administration also fired most of the USIP board, whose members are appointed by the president of the United States, and USIP’s CEO, George Moose. Hegseth, Rubio and Garvin remain on the board.
The compaint notes the 12 board members can only be removed by the U.S. president in consultation with the board in specific cases and that the Feb. 18 executive order wrongly labeled the institute as a “government entity” and part of the “federal bureaucracy.”
The institute is seeking a temporary restraining order and injunctive relief to stop defendants from further dismantling its leadership.
“What’s happening is clearly an overstep by the president and DOGE. This is legally an independent nonprofit organization — even the building itself is privately owned by USIP. So it was breaking and entering for DOGE to go in there,” said Susan Hayward, a former USIP senior adviser on religion and peacebuilding.
Created in 1984 by Congress to support global peacemaking efforts, USIP relies exclusively on federal funding and works closely with government officials, advising on conflict prevention and resolution and engaging in peace negotiations.
The institute supports universities’ efforts to develop scholarships in peace studies. It briefs Congress members on ongoing threats and conflicts and advises U.S. foreign policymakers on conflict resolution. The institute often organizes scenario planning and simulation sessions with the Department of Defense staff. It worked closely with the U.S. Defense Department and the State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan. It also engages in negotiations with foreign governments to broker peace deals.
A nonpartisan entity, USIP has worked with Republican and Democratic administrations since the late 1980s, operating among an informal network of centers and institutions involved in U.S. foreign policy, explained Hayward, including at the intersection of religion and peacebuilding.
Soon after its creation, which religious leaders of various denominations — including Quakers, United Church of Christ and Brethren — advocated for before Congress, the institute inaugurated its religion program in 1987. In 1998, the institute campaigned to create the U.S. State Department Office of International Religious Freedom, which documents religious persecution and freedom of worship of religious minorities around the world.
USIP researchers have looked at the “contradictory ways in which religion influences conflict and peace dynamics,” said Hayward, both as a driver of violence and an actor of conflict resolution, as religious groups often support food aid and humanitarian assistance programs.
The institute has offices around the world and has worked to defuse tensions in various conflicts and to build interfaith cooperation, including between Christian and Muslim communities in Nigeria, Buddhists and Christians in Sri Lanka, and with Ulama (Islamic scholars) and religious women in Afghanistan as part of the peace process there.
“Because this program (the religion program) has existed for over 30 years at USIP, it has meant a consistent focus on this topic and on this kind of analysis, to support faith-based and religious actors who are doing really critical work to protect communities,” said Hayward.
The USIP partnered with the first Trump administration to organize two summits on international religious freedom, convened under former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It also hosted the International Religious Freedom Summit, chaired by former Ambassador for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback.
In 2010, the institute launched a joint initiative with the Berkley Center of Religion and World Affairs at Georgetown University and World Faiths Development Dialogue to explore the intersection of religion, peacebuilding initiatives and gender.
The institute is also a prominent actor in interfaith advocacy circles. In 2022, USIP hosted an “Iftar to celebrate American religious diversity,” organized by the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council and other multifaith groups. Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, spoke at the event about his interfaith marriage to then-Vice President Kamala Harris, a Christian, and the importance of fostering interreligious cooperation.