Elon Musk and his so-called DOGE team are attacking another federal institution, this time it is the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., that is being illegally dismantled.

The Wilson Center explains its mission on its website: “The Wilson Center occupies a unique place in US foreign policy—we are congressionally chartered, scholarship driven, and fiercely nonpartisan. It is our mission to help policymakers and stakeholders make sense of global developments. We are driven to offer the insights and analysis that can inform decision-making and forge a stronger America and more secure world.”

The Wilson Center researchers have long provide expert analyses of foreign policy and international relations issues via workshops, conferences, and publications. They have provided expert briefings to members of the U.S. Congress and to officials in federal institutions and the military.

The Wilson Center has also provided fellowships to researchers who work on foreign policy, international relations, and security issues.

However, President Trump apparently does not want any foreign policy advice. Nor does Trump want the United States to have any independent researchers on international relations issues who might be capable of critiquing his foreign policies.

So, Elon Musk and his DOGE team are unlawfully shutting the Wilson Center down.

“Almost all the employees of the Wilson Center, a prominent nonpartisan foreign policy think tank in Washington, were placed on leave on Thursday and blocked from their work email accounts as Elon Musk’s task force quickly shut down most of the center,” according to The New York Times.

The DOGE team followed its now familiar playbook of occupying a federal institution and taking over its computers, then ordering federal employees out of their offices.

“About 130 employees received orders telling them not to return to the office after the end of the day, according to an email reviewed by The New York Times and people with direct knowledge of the actions.”

“The Wilson Center employees are to be paid while on leave but will be fired soon, in line with what has happened at other institutions that Mr. Musk’s workers have dismantled in recent weeks.”

“Only five employees will remain — a president, two federal employees and two researchers on fellowships. Those positions are mandated in the center’s congressional charter. The cuts align with an executive order President Trump signed in March.”

“Private donations to the center will be returned to the donors, according to a person familiar with the center who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution. It was not clear what would be done with the center’s endowment.”

“On Thursday afternoon, dozens of employees carried boxes and bags filled with papers, plants and posters out of the center’s offices in the Ronald Reagan Building, which houses several government agency offices.”

All of these actions seem illegal and unconstitutional, since the Wilson Center is chartered by the United States Congress.

Shockingly, the U.S. Congress has apparently taken no actions to defend the Wilson Center.

Kavi, Aishvarya and Edward Wong. “Workers Forced to Leave Foreign Policy Center as Trump Presses Shutdown.” The New York Times (3 April 2025).