Elon Musk’s DOGE Workers Left Behind ‘Marijuana & Roaches’ In Institute Of Peace Offices It Occupied

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Alessio AtriaJune 7, 2025, 12:25 pmNews >

Agents of Elon Musk‘s group, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), left the offices of the nonprofit organization, the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), littered with “marijuana and roaches.”

The institute’s building had been forcibly taken by DOGE, but a court ruling ordered them out. From March 17 to last month, the building was occupied by Musk’s group. The administrators of the institute returned to their building only on May 19.

In May, DOGE claimed that it saved $160 billion in the U.S. budget. However, the Partnership for Public Service (PSP), a nonpartisan study organization, alleged that its cuts would cost taxpayers $135 billion.

One week later, the group created a master database at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to accelerate immigration enforcement and deportations.

On May 23, George E. Moose, acting president and CEO of the institute, filed a sworn affidavit in the Washington, D.C., federal court.

In it, he testified that employees found the building damaged when they came back after DOGE took it over.

Economist reporter Daniel Knowles posted an image of marijuana on the Bluesky social media platform. He said it was given to him by someone from the institute who found it in the trash following DOGE’s departure.

“Among other things, they reported evidence of rats and roaches in the building,” Moose wrote in the affidavit. “Vermin were not a problem before March 17, 2025.”

He also said that employees discovered “water leaks, damage to the garage door, and missing ceiling tiles in multiple places in the building.”

The institute’s CEO also reported evidence that “someone had scrawled graffiti on one of the outside spaces.”

Posts on Bluesky also revealed that the building logo was removed, but it was reinstated after the institute’s officials returned.

“One of the first things DOGE did upon entering the U.S. Institute of Peace was tear down the logo, and one of the first things we did upon recovering the building was put it back up,” Keith Mines stated on LinkedIn. “It is a heck of a logo, packing a ton of history, culture, and aspiration into a small symbol. Hopefully, the institute survives to continue to bring all that to life.”