George Foote still has vivid memories of the day operatives from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the headquarters of the United States Institute of Peace. The outside general counsel for USIP, he’s been part of the effort to keep the US government from seizing control of the organization. When DOGE operatives arrived at the USIP offices in the spring they came in like a “strike team,” Foote told the audience at WIRED’s Big Interview event on Thursday in San Francisco.
The DOGE team, Foote said, left behind a “half-pound of weed”—more probably, a fellow panelist noted, a half-ounce—and ultimately seemed to have “no idea what to do with the place.” It was, Foote said, indicative of a lot of the work of DOGE, which “arrived as the brass knuckles on an authoritarian fist.” He added that he wasn’t sure what Musk wanted to do with DOGE, “but he took it to a destructive level.”
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The Trump administration’s interest in the independent agency dates back to a February 19 executive order declaring the agency “unnecessary” and calling for it to be eliminated. In March, the administration fired the 10 voting board members of the USIP, and according to court filings, tried to enter the headquarters but were turned away. In court documents, lawyers for the agency detailed a series of attempts by DOGE to enter the $500 million building before its operatives eventually succeeded. Ultimately, a judge ruled that DOGE and the US government didn’t have the right to take control of USIP and its headquarters.
Still, this week Trump’s name was installed on the headquarters of USIP ahead of the signing of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the building. The signing was “held there because the president wants to assert control over the building,” said Foote, who is currently representing USIP directors in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s right to remove them from office.
Foote was one of several people on a panel, hosted by WIRED senior writer Vittoria Elliott, on the fallout from the move-fast-break-things ethos of DOGE. Foote was joined by former Social Security Administration commissioner Leland Dudek, and former DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia, who announced during the panel that he’s back in government at the Internal Revenue Service.
As WIRED reported on Tuesday, many of the young technologists DOGE sent to various US agencies are still working with federal government entities. Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, Akash Bobba, Ethan Shaotran, Marko Elez, and Gavin Kliger all still seem affiliated with DOGE or the US government. DOGE has “just transformed,” one IRS employee told WIRED.
As the effects of DOGE ripple out, Foote noted it’s important for people to keep an eye on what’s happening. He’s confident the USIP directors will win in court, even if the process is long. “The rule of law doesn’t matter if the people don’t stand up to defend it,” he said.
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