U.S. Institute of Peace USIP

After years of advocacy for a national peace academy, Congress created the United States Institute of Peace in a law signed on October 19, 1984, as an independent, nonpartisan institution funded by Congress to promote the prevention and resolution of international conflicts. It was governed by a bipartisan board of twelve members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, plus the Secretaries of State and Defense and the president of the National Defense University. In 2011 it moved into a headquarters near the Lincoln Memorial built largely with private donations.

USIP trained diplomats, military officers, and local leaders in mediation and negotiation, ran dialogue and reconciliation programs in conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, and parts of Africa, published research on peacebuilding, and supported bipartisan study groups for Congress. Its staff often worked in places where U.S. government officials could not easily operate, and its budget was a small fraction of a percent of foreign affairs spending.

A February 19, 2025, executive order directed USIP to be reduced to its legal minimum. In March 2025 the administration removed its appointed board members, and officials working with the government efficiency office took over its headquarters with the help of police, after which most staff were dismissed and the building was transferred to another agency. A federal judge ruled in May 2025 that the takeover was unlawful, but an appeals court allowed the administration to keep control while the case continued, with argument set for November 2026, and on October 1, 2026 the appeals court temporarily blocked plans to engrave the President's name on the building. Supporters of the takeover said USIP was a wasteful entity under presidential authority, while its leaders and many former officials said it was an independent institution Congress created that the President had no power to seize.