The Trump administration fired nearly the entire staff of the U.S. Institute of Peace headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday, according to multiple reports.
The mass firings, in what anonymous employees characterized as a “Friday night massacre” to the Washington Post, affected somewhere between 200 and 300 employees at the nonprofit organization, all of whom were offered severance packages and one month of health insurance if they waived their right to sue the institute.
All of the terminated employees received notice via email.
“This letter is to inform you of a change in your employment status with United State [sic] Institute of Peace. Effective March 28, 2025, your employment with us will conclude,” the email said, according to the Washington Post.
The firings come after a judge denied a request by former USIP board members for a restraining order against the Department of Government Efficiency as it sought to take over the organization.
Those board members had been fired by President Donald Trump.
USIP was already the target of a Feb. 19 executive order from Trump, after which it underwent an overhaul, including on its website.
In a statement to CBS News on Saturday addressing the firings, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly pointed to the administration’s goal of eliminating wasteful government spending, saying USIP has largely failed in its mission to “deliver peace.”
“Taxpayers don’t want to spend $50 million per year on a publicly-funded ‘research institute’ that has failed to deliver peace.”
“President Trump ended the era of forever wars and established peace in his first term, and he is carrying out his mandate to eliminate bloat and save taxpayer dollars,” Kelly said.
