“Nate Cavanaugh Appointed to Lead U.S. Institute of Peace by DOGE Employee”
WASHINGTON (AP) — A government official associated with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has been named as the new head of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a think tank established and funded by Congress that was marked for closure by President Donald Trump, as stated in a federal court filing on Monday. According to the filing, two board members of the Institute of Peace have given the green light to replace its interim president with Nate Cavanaugh. They instructed him to transfer the institute’s assets to the General Services Administration, the federal government’s real estate manager, in line with DOGE’s directive to terminate numerous leases.
The court filing requests U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in Washington to intervene or set a status conference promptly to address the matters at hand. Howell has summoned the involved parties to a status hearing on Tuesday.
There has been no immediate response from the White House regarding this development.
This comes after a mass termination of almost all 300 institute employees on Friday night. Former employees revealed that only a few were exempt from the layoffs, such as those abroad who have until April 9 to return to the U.S., and regional vice presidents overseeing their respective areas. Some former employees, speaking anonymously to The Associated Press out of fear of backlash, mentioned being contacted through private emails since they were unable to access the institute’s system following a confrontation earlier in the month between DOGE members and law enforcement. They were given until April 7 to collect their personal belongings.
In February, a presidential executive order placed the institute, which focuses on conflict prevention and resolution, and three other agencies on the closure list. Board members and the institute’s president, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, were dismissed. Following a standoff where employees obstructed DOGE members from entering the institute’s headquarters near the State Department, DOGE personnel eventually gained entry with help from the Washington police.
While Howell criticized DOGE representatives for their actions, she did not reinstate the board members or allow employees back into the workspace. The recent court filing by the plaintiffs notes Howell’s previous decisions rejecting a temporary restraining order. According to the filing, they are now seeking intervention to maintain the current situation regarding the court’s ability to provide relief if it is determined that the removal of the majority of the institute’s directors was unlawful.
