Nearly all employees at the Wilson Center, a taxpayer-funded foreign policy think tank in Washington, D.C., were abruptly placed on leave Thursday as part of a sweeping government downsizing campaign under the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Roughly 130 staffers were blocked from their work accounts and ordered to vacate the premises by the end of the day, according to internal communications obtained by The New York Times. The move came just days after Elon Musk’s DOGE task force reportedly entered the building, signaling the center’s closure was imminent following a March executive order.
“The last thing that DC needs is yet another ‘think tank’ to create fake jobs for fake ‘experts’ with no other useful or employable skills — and certainly not at taxpayers’ expense,” Anna Kelly, deputy White House press secretary, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “President Trump was given a mandate to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse across the Executive Branch, and reducing useless agencies like the Wilson Center is part of his agenda to more effectively steward taxpayer dollars.”
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— The Wilson Center (@TheWilsonCenter) August 9, 2021
The former president of the Wilson Center, Mark Green, resigned voluntarily and was replaced with Natasha Jacome.
The Wilson Center’s workforce reduction follows a now-familiar playbook from the Trump administration’s government overhaul strategy. DOGE has already dismantled or hollowed out several federal institutions and nonprofit entities that rely on government funding — most similarly the U.S. Institute of Peace.
A small core of five personnel — protected by the center’s 1968 congressional charter — will remain: the center’s president, two federal employees and two fellows, according to The Times.
Some 30% of the Wilson Center’s budget is derived from federal funds, with the remaining 70% coming from private benefactors, according to its website. The center calls itself a “model for the successful implementation of a public/private partnership.”
“Congress supports the Wilson Center through an annual appropriation; however, 70 percent of the annual operating budget must be raised from private sources to ensure the Center’s continued role in ‘the dialogue of democracy,’” the website reads.
Prior to DOGE’s intervention, the Wilson Center has served as a nonpartisan diplomatic policy center, hosting initiatives like the Africa Program, which aims to “enhance knowledge and understanding about Africa” and “offer practical options for tackling key challenges,” such as climate change, which the center says impacts food and water security, as well as quelling violent uprisings. There are several ongoing armed conflicts on the continent, including in Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from the White House.
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