Former USIP Lawyer on DOGE: ‘Brass Knuckles on an Authoritarian Fist’
George Foote always has vivid memories of the day agents from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Effectiveness arrived at the headquarters of the U.S. Institute of Peace. An outside general counsel for USIP, he participated in efforts to prevent the U.S. government from taking control of the organization. When DOGE agents arrived at USIP offices in the spring, they responded like a “strike team,” Foote told the audience at WIRED’s Big Interview event Thursday in San Francisco.
The DOGE team, Foote said, left behind “half a pound of weed” — more likely, another panelist noted, half an ounce — and ultimately appeared to have “no idea what to do with the place.” It was, Foote said, indicative of much of DOGE’s work, which “arrived like 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.”
The Trump administration’s interest in the independent agency dates back to a Feb. 19 executive order declaring the agency “unnecessary” and calling for its elimination. In March, the administration fired all 10 voting members of the USIP board and, according to court filings, attempted to enter the headquarters but was turned away. In court documents, the agency’s lawyers detailed a series of attempts by DOGE to enter the $500 million building before its agents succeeded. Ultimately, a judge ruled that DOGE and the US government had no right to take control of USIP and its headquarters.
Yet this week, Trump’s name was inscribed on USIP headquarters ahead of the signing of a peace agreement between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo in that building. The signing took place “there because the president wants to assert his control over the building,” said Foote, who is currently representing the USIP directors in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s right to remove them.
Foote was one of several people participating in a panel, moderated by WIRED senior editor Vittoria Elliott, on the fallout from DOGE’s fast-moving and breakup philosophy. Foote was joined by former Social Security Administration Commissioner Leland Dudek and former DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia, who announced during the panel that he was returning to government from the Internal Revenue Service.
As WIRED reported on Tuesday, many of the young technologists that DOGE sent to various U.S. agencies are still working with federal government entities. Edward “Big Balls” Coristine, Akash Bobba, Ethan Shaotran, Marko Elez, and Gavin Kliger all appear to still be affiliated with DOGE or the US government. DOGE just transformed, an IRS employee told WIRED.
As the effects of DOGE are felt, Foote noted that it is important for people to keep an eye on what is happening. He is confident that USIP directors will win in court, even if the process is long. “The rule of law doesn’t matter if people don’t stand up to defend it,” he said.
