Mark Green, a Republican who once worked under President Trump, stepped down as head of the Wilson Center after employees of Elon Musk’s team visited the think tank.
Mark Green, a Republican who once worked under President Trump, stepped down as head of the Wilson Center after employees of Elon Musk’s team visited the think tank. Mark Green, a Republican who once worked under President Trump, stepped down as head of the Wilson Center after employees of Elon Musk’s team visited the think tank.
The head of the Wilson Center, a storied foreign policy think tank, resigned on Tuesday, a day after employees from Elon Musk’s government-overhauling team arrived at the group’s Washington headquarters to dismantle it, according to people familiar with the actions at the center.
The resignation of the president, Mark Green, a Republican, and the visit from Mr. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency team, indicated that the Trump administration was carrying out an executive order President Trump signed last month directing that the organization, a nonpartisan policy group, be largely dismantled.
After DOGE team members visited the center on Monday and Tuesday, some of the leadership staff and senior government employees were ousted, including Mr. Green, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retribution by political appointees in the Trump administration. The center’s dozens of federal employees, about a third of its work force, were also set to be placed on administrative leave.
The apparent gutting of the Wilson Center would be the latest attempt by the Trump administration to bring federally funded institutions that have historically been independent under executive branch control, and in much diminished forms. Mr. Musk and his task force have helped lead efforts at slashing those institutions and various federal agencies.
One person familiar with Mr. Green’s resignation said he had been offered a choice: Step down or be fired. Mr. Green, who has been a Wisconsin congressman, an ambassador to Tanzania and head of the now-defunct U.S. Agency for International Development during Mr. Trump’s first term, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
After the March executive order calling for the center to be reduced “to the minimum presence and function required by law,” Mr. Green wrote in an email to members that its leaders had viewed the order and were “crafting plans to comply.” He did not say whether the center would push back against the executive order.