GIFF JOHNSON
President Donald Trump’s team’s takeover of the United States Institute of Peace, closure of Voice of America, and plan to defund the East-West Center was, perhaps, predictable but is nevertheless undermining US relations in the Pacific region and with allies around the world.
All three institutions have been in place for decades, furthering US government “soft” diplomacy through information sharing, workshops, conferences and forums, fellowships and student scholarships that involve people from all parts of the world in conversation about world affairs and the US government’s role.
Significantly, in contrast to Voice of America, both East-West Center and US Institute of Peace are non-profit, independent organizations that receive funding from the US government.
Almost all of Voice of America’s 1,300 journalists, producers and assistants were put on administrative leave last month, its regular foreign language broadcasts halted, and its news website stopped being updated. Voice of America provided excellent ongoing coverage of the Compact negotiations between the US and RMI, FSM and Palau in the 2022 and 2023 period — the most consistent provider of news content about developments on Compact from Washington. It also generated significant content on the US-China dynamic in the Pacific.
The Honolulu-based East-West Center receives over half of its funding from the US government and that funding is reportedly to be eliminated. This will wipe out numerous successful engagement programs between East-West Center and Pacific Island and Asian nations. Unless the Hawaii state legislature steps into the funding gap, the East-West Center could be forced to close.
The fate of the US Institute of Peace seems to be even worse at this point. The background to USIP is that it was established in the 1980s by the US Congress. It is a registered and independent non-profit organization whose building is not the property of the US government but rather owned by USIP. None of its workers are US federal government employees.
In line with increasing US interest in the Pacific, USIP focused on Pacific issues starting over five years ago, issuing reports about issues in the region and hosting significant forums that brought Pacific Islanders together with US government officials for discussions. USIP also more than doubled the number of its staff focused on Pacific Island affairs in 2023.
Despite the fact that USIP is not a US federal agency, two weeks ago representatives of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is run by Trump advisor and billionaire Elon Musk, took over the institute by force.
Initially, a DOGE team was turned away when USIP officials refused them entry without a court order.
A short time later, the DOGE team returned with two others who said they were FBI agents but did not provide further identification. When USIP called the DC police to help them prevent entry to the DOGE team, the DC police — and the local security company that provides services on contract to USIP, but was under pressure from DOGE — helped the DOGE team gain access to take over USIP.
“DOGE played hardball in US Institute of Peace takeover,” headlined a story in the Washington Post last month.
Subsequently, all USIP staff were evicted from their building, DOGE employees took over. And Monday this week, almost all USIP staff were fired and asked to sign agreements saying they would not take any legal action against DOGE.
“USIP is not part of the executive branch and not subject to the executive order that DOGE is trying to implement, so DOGE’s takeover of USIP is illegal — that much seems very clear,” said a Journal source in Washington. “It just remains to be seen if the law will actually be enforced.”
A USIP lawsuit will be heard later this month in a Washington, DC courtroom.
“Trump and his cronies seem hell-bent on gutting the entire federal government, and even coming after independent institutions like USIP,” said the Journal source. “What’s next?”