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

Source: CNN Politics

Published 5:46 PM EDT, Sat July 12, 2025


CNN — 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.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/12/politics/us-institute-of-peace-employees-experience-mass-firings