Members of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency arrived at the Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Friday to begin a review of the independent agency’s internal systems as part of their governmental cost-cutting efforts, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Peace Corps told ABC News, “Staff from the Department of Government Efficiency are currently working at Peace Corps headquarters and the agency is supporting their requests.”
A White House official also confirmed to ABC News that DOGE was working at the Peace Corps.
Sources told ABC News that Peace Corps staff have been informed that members of the DOGE team will be on site and working through the weekend, and should be granted access to internal systems.
Staff have also been instructed to assist the team in setting up internal accounts, the sources said.
Employees have been told to retain records of all DOGE requests and were told that “equivalent datasets” may be provided in lieu of direct system access, according to sources.
The Peace Corps headquarters is shown in Washington, D.C.
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In the lead-up to Friday’s appearance, Peace Corps staff had been receiving updates about DOGE’s coming arrival, with some growing increasingly concerned that Musk’s team could seek to dismantle parts of the organization in a manner similar to what occurred at USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, sources said.
The Peace Corps, established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy and later authorized by Congress, recruits and deploys American volunteers to support development efforts around the world.
In his Fiscal Year 2025 budget submission to Congress, former President Joe Biden requested $479 million for the Peace Corps, a nearly 11% increase in funding over the prior year.
