U.S. Peace Corps says Musk’s cost-cutting team has arrived at its HQ

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By Nathan Layne

(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 unit 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 agency 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 an 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.

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.

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 of U.S. soft power abroad.

Trump has taken steps to dismantle key pillars of America’s soft power, including the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Institute of Peace and government-funded broadcasters like Voice of America.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne, editing by Ross Colvin and Howard Goller)