DOGE Is Trying to Steal a $500 Million Building

U.S. Institute of Peace

The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) was created in 1984 under Ronald Reagan. It's a congressionally-funded, independent, non-partisan non-profit tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention around the world.

Back in February, Trump signed an Executive Order to dismantle the peace-keeping institute, and last month he ordered most of the USIP's board of directors fired.

Since USIP is independent of the rest of the government (ie, not a government entity), it was initially suspected DOGE wouldn't have any authority to "audit" it (or whatever the hell DOGE is actually pretending to do).

Since this story involves Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE, you probably already guessed that none of that mattered.

On Fri, March 14, the White House Deputy Director of Personnel announced the firing of all 10 voting members of USIP's 15-member board. Then DOGE tried, unsuccessfully, to enter the building twice that day. The USIP board basically told them, “You don’t have any authority over us.”

Over the weekend, the USIP's head of security, Colin O’Brien, posted "No Trespassing" signs out at the front entrance.

On Mon, March 17, a bunch of DOGE workers showed up at USIP headquarters to take control of the building by force after the institute’s president, George Moose, and top staff refused to leave. Unable to gain access to the the building, DOGE called in Inter-Con—the private company that provided security for the USIP building—and threatened to cancel all their other government contracts unless they came and unlocked the doors (Inter-Con had received more than $2 billion in federal contracts since 2007, most of it from the State Department).

Inter-Con showed up and attempted to use their badges to enter the building via tap access. O’Brien, suspecting the Trump administration might seek Inter-Con’s help getting into the building, cancelled their contract the night before—ending their badge access—and collected all keys. Except for one.

The lone master key in Inter-Con’s possession was used to open a side door. Once inside the building, the intruders were confronted by O’Brien. One of the Inter-Con employees instructed his assistants to go find the building’s gun safe, prompting O’Brien to initiate a full lockdown and call 911.

Meanwhile, members of DOGE who were still locked outside called the U.S. Attorneys Office, who ALSO called the police and said the USIP staff inside the building were trespassing.

After a 5-hour standoff, the Metro Washington PD showed up, along with the FBI, and were admitted into the building. The authorities escorted the USIP staff out, and DOGE—led by 28-year old Nate Cavanaugh—took over the building. Former State Department official Kenneth Jackson assumed the role of USIP president.

But this isn’t a story about how DOGE gained access to building—it’s about how they’re trying to steal THE WHOLE FREAKING BUILDING.

Court documents filed Monday show that Cavanaugh—who was previously installed at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA)—had replaced Kenneth Jackson as USIP’s acting president. Furthermore, Cavanaugh had been instructed to transfer all of USIP’s assets to GSA. Including the $500 million building itself.

The transfer orders were signed by Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth.

The same court filing showed a letter written by Cavanaugh to Stephen Ehikian, GSA’s acting administrator, that read:

“I have concluded that it is in the best interest of USIP, the federal government, and the United States for USIP to transfer its real property located at 2301 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, to GSA and to seek an exception from the 100 percent reimbursement requirement for the building.”

That request was approved by Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget (also the grand architect of Project 2025), who told Ehikian to “to set the amount of reimbursement at no cost for the transfer of the United States Institute of Peace’s (USIP) headquarters building.”

If you’re having a hard time putting all those pieces together, here’s the 10-second summary:

Nate Cavanaugh is a 28-yr old DOGE staffer who was initially installed at GSA, physically forced his way into the Institute of Peace—a non-executive agency DOGE has no jurisdiction over—made himself acting president of the agency he commandeered, and then got approval to hand over that agency’s $500 million headquarters to the agency he was working for.

For free.

28-year old Nate Cavanaugh, DOGE staffer, acting president of USIP, stealer of $500 million dollar building