Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has named one of its young software engineers as head of the US Institute of Peace. 

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This comes almost a month after the agency refused to allow DOGE employees into the building. 

28-year-old Nate Cavanaugh will now be leading the USIP, a White House official confirmed to the Daily Beast. 

Earlier this month, Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly announced that George Moose, the then president of USIP, had been replaced with Kenneth Jackson, a State Department employee who has been helping DOGE dismantle international agencies.

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Also read: Donald Trump says Musk-run DOGE will end at 'certain point'? When will it end?

“George is actually a career bureaucrat who wants to be unaccountable to the American people,” Kelly said. 

However, the institute argued that the board must have 12 other members appointed with the advice and consent of the Senate, adding that the board must be bipartisan. 

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Later, Musk's DOGE officials showed up to begin gutting the agency, but the institute turned them away. 

A few hours later, DOGE returned with a document signed by Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth and Garvin, saying that Moose had been removed. But a lawyer for the institute told them USIP was an independent agency, and the president couldn’t just fire the board members at will. 

DOGE workers, including Jackson, gained entry to the building alongside a police escort, the Daily Beast reported. Moose said at the time that Musk’s department had broken in. However, DOGE denied the claims.

Then, the FBI threatened the institute for lack of access to the building, its lawyers said. 

Also read: 'Get back the money ASAP': Trump asks DOGE to take back $8,000,000 given to 'Radical Left' Politico magazine

Who is Nate Cavanaugh?

Cavanaugh is a tech entrepreneur and has a background in legal technology and financial services. 

The 28-year-old is the co-founder and chairman of a tech company for accounting software, Flowfi, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

He also co-founded Brainbase, a startup that helped companies manage trademark and licensing agreements, which raised $8 million in venture capital and counted Sanrio and BuzzFeed among its clients, according to a 2020 report by Fortune.

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His entrepreneur story took him to a spot on 2021's Forbes 30 under 30 list for enterprise technology. 

He was also seen interviewing General Services Administration employees during his time at DOGE, The New York Times reported.

However, he has never worked in the US government before his time at DOGE. 

In 2020, while speaking to Fortune, Cavanaugh said he was drawn to legal technology by the challenge and complexity of managing intellectual property, calling the space "very unsexy, but it suits me as I wanted to do something difficult."

Also read: ‘Bold changes spark global discussion’: Modi lauds Musk’s DOGE mission, draws parallels with India’s reforms

(With inputs from agencies)