When staff members at the U.S. Institute of Peace locked themselves inside their Washington headquarters last March to try to prevent the Trump administration from taking control of the building, they became a symbol of resistance as the administration’s cost-cutting ax sliced through federally funded groups.
A year later, they are the ones on the outside looking in.
Despite a winding legal challenge, the institute lies defunct, its elegant headquarters along the National Mall now emblazoned with President Trump’s name and used as a backdrop for ceremonies with foreign leaders.
The drawn-out fight shows the lasting effects of the administration’s cost-cutting blitz and moves to take control of nominally independent institutions, despite questions about their legality. And the repurposing of the headquarters, topped with a dove-shaped roof, stands as a physical testament to how traditional peace-building has fallen out of favor under Mr. Trump, who has cast aside institutions for a more personal brand of diplomacy.
“It’s disheartening,” said George Foote, a former lawyer for the institute who represents the ousted staff members in their lawsuit against the administration. “You’ve seen what the staff, the legitimate staff, the former staff, are doing, and you’ve seen the work that they’ve done in the past, and what serious peace-builders and hard workers they are. They know that making peace is a long process.”
The institute has ceded “full and unfettered access” of its $500 million headquarters to the State Department since last November, according to a copy of an agreement obtained by The New York Times. The agreement, signed by Darren Beattie, the Trump administration-installed head of the institute, also affords it “exclusive authority to approve, schedule and manage events on the premises.”
The White House justified gutting the institute by calling it a “bloated, useless entity” that blew through federal money “while delivering no peace.” A State Department official said the building’s new use as a backdrop for diplomatic engagement is consistent with the institute’s purpose, highlighting Mr. Trump’s “historic commitment to peacemaking.”
The official added that the agreement also allowed the State Department to use office space on a reimbursable basis.
The showdown a year ago between the institute’s staff and administration officials, who enlisted the help of law enforcement to gain access, put an unexpected spotlight on the nonprofit that supported diplomatic solutions to global conflicts.
The institute was created by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan more than four decades ago in the midst of the Cold War, with the idea that the United States bore responsibility to invest in peaceful resolutions to international conflicts. Although it has traditionally operated independently of the federal government, Congress has funded the institute’s work, including $20 million appropriated for this year.
Its hybrid legal status has kicked off a fight over just how much authority the executive branch can exercise over it. This month, 11 Democratic senators sent a letter to the institute’s three board members, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, saying they opposed the “illegal actions taken by the Trump administration with respect to the management and activities” of the institute.
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The senators, most of whom sit on the committee that oversees federal spending, demanded that the institute’s board provide broad information about its activities and finances by April 1.
Though a federal judge ruled last May that the takeover had been a “gross usurpation of power,” the administration quickly appealed, and a three-judge panel stayed that decision. The appeals panel said that it would not issue a decision until the Supreme Court ruled on a case involving Mr. Trump’s power to fire independent government officials, suggesting the institute’s case was a long way from a resolution.
But a lawsuit against the administration for dismantling a small federal agency focused on aid to Africa recently resulted in a permanent injunction, offering some hope for the former staff members suing over the Institute of Peace.
Mr. Foote said the administration was taking advantage of the drawn-out legal battle to act as though it had already won the lawsuit.
Days after the institute’s agreement with the State Department apparently went into effect, Mr. Trump’sname was added to the facade. He then used it as a backdrop for a December signing ceremony with the presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the time, Mr. Trump was openly campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize, and he boasted of ending the war between the two nations, even though fighting in the region has continued.
In February, as Mr. Trump threatened war with Iran, the headquarters was again used for a peace summit — the first meeting of the Board of Peace, an international body created by Mr. Trump for the postwar development of Gaza.
Mr. Beattie did not immediately respond to questions about how the institute would continue to be featured, though he recently told congressional staff members that he had no plans for it other than to use it to keep highlighting the president’s peacemaking agenda, according to two people familiar with the conversation who requested anonymity to speak about a private discussion.
For the past year, the institute’s former top staff members have logged on to regular video calls to talk about the progress of their lawsuit and the future of the institute’s mission, with or without a favorable court ruling.
Shira Lowinger, who managed grants and contracts for the institute, said that they had directed private donors to fund a mini-grant program to support former institute staff members “who remain committed to advancing the institute’s congressionally mandated mission despite current circumstances.”
She said that it had funded, among other projects, training for peace-builders in Central America, a public opinion survey in Venezuela and research on restoring public order in Haiti.
Last week, days after Mr. Trump launched a war with Iran, a peace-building conference organized by the University of Notre Dame and several former leaders of the institute convened in Washington. Speaking to a crowd that included students and fired federal workers, George Moose, the institute’s onetime head, said that institutions like the one he led had been “dismantled and defunded at a time when the need for them could not be greater.”
Aishvarya Kavi works in the Washington bureau of The Times, helping to cover a variety of political and national news.
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