U.S. Peace Corps says Musk's DOGE has arrived at its HQ

By Nathan Layne, Alexandra Alper and Tim Reid

(Reuters) -Members of Elon Musk's cost-cutting team arrived at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington, the agency told Reuters, a signal it could become the latest U.S. government agency to face job cuts.

"Staff from the Department of Government Efficiency are currently working at Peace Corps headquarters and the agency is supporting their requests," the organization said in a statement on Friday.

The Peace Corps, which sends volunteers across the globe to help countries with education, health and economic projects, had so far remained under the radar amid the cost-slashing drive of the Musk-led DOGE.

The purpose of the visit was not immediately clear, but the arrival of DOGE staff at a federal agency is often followed by layoffs. Fridays have become some of the most nerve-racking times for mass firings of civil servants since President Donald Trump took office on January 20 and established DOGE.

DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

With an annual budget of more than $400 million, the Peace Corps has long been popular with Democrats and Republicans.

Congress has a bipartisan Peace Corps caucus. In 1983 then-President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, said: "By the example of these Peace Corps volunteers, people throughout the world can understand that America’s heart is strong, and her heart is good."

Peace Corps staff had been told by the agency's leaders to expect DOGE staffers to arrive on Friday afternoon and work through the weekend, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak with the media.

Since the Peace Corps was established in 1961 by President John F. Kennedy, more than 240,000 Americans have served as Peace Corps volunteers. It is widely seen as one of the most visible instruments used by the U.S. government to project influence abroad.

Trump, a Republican, has already taken a number of steps early in his second term to dismantle key pillars of America's soft power, including moves to gut the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace and government-funded broadcasters like Voice of America.

Some 130 employees at the Wilson Center, a non-partisan foreign policy think tank in Washington, were placed on leave, after DOGE began focusing on the institution this week, the New York Times reported.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne, Alexandra Alper, Tim Reid and Patricia Zengerle; editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)