US Institute of Peace employees experience another round of mass firings following court ruling

CNN

5 days ago

Employees at the United States Institute of Peace were terminated for a second time by the Trump administration, after a federal court ruling last month paved the way, according to multiple fired employees.
Liz Callihan, a now-former employee, said Department of Government Efficiency personnel installed at USIP notified the staff of the firings with a 'few remaining employees retained to conduct close-out activities and wind down USIP.'
'These actions reflect a continued pattern of DOGE's cruel indifference toward USIP's dedicated workforce. Beyond the harm to these committed professionals, such reckless actions will immediately end the important training, education, facilitation, and research work that USIP does around the world in the field of conflict resolution,' Callihan, a former senior adviser for strategic engagement at USIP, said in a statement.
The administration has attempted to reimagine the role of the US abroad and dramatically dismantle key parts of the federal government through DOGE. In recent months, though, it has quietly backtracked in some cases as federal agencies have rehired and ordered back from leave some employees as a result of it scrambling to fill critical gaps.
CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Callihan, who has been with USIP since 2012, said it's been 'devastating' and emotional with the 'constant change and flux and tumult.'
She was a part of the 'landing team,' who were brought back to rebuild operations and programs after the first round of mass firings. Those employees began receiving their termination notice Friday afternoon. The rest of the USIP workforce, who had been furloughed, began receiving their letters in the evening.
USIP employees originally received termination letters on March 28, though a federal judge ruled in May that the Trump administration unlawfully removed the board of USIP and that subsequent actions taken by officials installed by DOGE to cripple the agency are therefore 'null and void.' In late June, a federal appeals court stayed that ruling, leading to this week's firings.
Hodei Sultan, another employee on the landing team who was fired on Friday, has been working with the institute since 2009 and oversaw operations and strategy within the Asia center. She said the personal impact of the recent firings is 'really horrific.'
'Both on March 28 and on July 11, they have a tendency to do these mass firings at night,' she said. 'We joked about it, but 'Friday night massacre 1.0,' and last night was 'Friday massacre 2.0.' So the intention is very much mental torture and emotional anguish, whether that's inflicted on the partners and individuals in these conflict environments that so desperately need our help and support, but also the staff.'
'DOGE succeeded in getting a stay of the district court's order,' Callihan said in her statement. 'Having regained control of USIP, DOGE is renewing its mistreatment of USIP employees and its systematic dismantling of an institution authorized by Congress to promote peacebuilding efforts around the world.'
USIP is not a federal agency within the executive branch. It was created by Congress as a nonpartisan, independent body in 1984 that owns and manages its headquarters.
The institute, which was founded during the Reagan administration, 'promotes research, policy analysis, education, and training on international peace and conflict resolution in an effort to prevent and resolve violent conflicts, and to promote post-conflict stability,' according to a description on usa.gov.
The Trump administration has had a series of significant wins in recent weeks, including in the Supreme Court, which, earlier this month backed Trump's effort to carry out mass firings and reorganizations at federal agencies. It put on hold a lower court order that had temporarily blocked the president from taking those steps without approval from Congress.
The employees at USIP are the latest group of mass firings as part of the Trump administration's broader efforts to shrink the federal government. The State Department also began firing more than 1,300 people on Friday as part of a dramatic overhaul of the agency.
The State Department firings will affect 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers in Washington, DC, an internal notice seen by CNN said. Those fired on Friday worked on issues like countering violent extremism; helping Afghans who fled after the Taliban takeover; educational exchanges; and issues related to women's rights, refugees and climate change.
Sultan pointed to the recent firings at the State Department and said the 'US is very much losing its credence and credibility on the world stage.'
'We're completely self-isolating from the world and pulling away on this vital livelihood foreign assistance, foreign aid programs that were more than just helping people in other countries. They really were about flexing our soft power approach and making sure that we were a credible partner on the world stage,' she said.