A collection of non-governmental organizations staffed by former members of the military, federal government, and intelligence community is reportedly working to undermine the Constitution following the midterm elections.
The alleged network of former military officers, intelligence officials, and ex-USAID personnel is coordinating to advise state governments on scenarios involving military intervention during the 2026 midterm elections, according to investigative researcher Jennica Pounds, better known online as DataRepublican. The groups, which include Renew to Thrive and National Security Leaders For America (NSL4A), have backed anti-Trump protests, discussed when the federal government could be declared illegitimate, and entertained the idea of “extra-constitutional” measures, raising questions about whether they are preparing for a constitutional crisis or actively working to manufacture a color revolution, a series of non-violent, mass public protests, and civil disobedience movements.
Renew to Thrive and National Security Leaders For America did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
Danielle Reiff, a former USAID democracy officer, among other colleagues from the agency, has reportedly been operating through various grassroots organizations working to undermine the Trump administration since USAID’s closure in July 2025, according to Pounds.
“Take it from those of us who worked in authoritarian countries: We’ve become one … they were so quick to disband [The U.S. Agency for International Development], the group that supposedly instigates color revolutions,” one former employee reportedly declared. “But they’ve done a very foolish thing. You just released a bunch of well-trained individuals into your population. If you kept our offices going and had us play solitaire in the office, it might have been safer to keep your regime.”
Others reportedly shared the CIA’s “Simple Sabotage Field Manual” with government officials perceived as potential allies.
Reiff and others allegedly have turned their efforts from undermining the administration of President Donald Trump towards the upcoming midterm elections. Representing her new organization, Renew to Thrive, Reiff has spoken at Zoom meetings hosted by the Democratic Constitutional Forum, an organization which has regularly platformed speakers advocating for creating a new American Constitution.
Renew to Thrive, composed of former USAID and USAID-backed NGO officials, has direct ties to protest groups including 22nd Century Initiative and No Kings, Pounds reported. Their strategy is to “block, bridge, belong, and build.” Blocking, in particular, involves citizens “safeguarding the 2026 and 2028 votes, defending free speech and peaceful assembly, exposing corruption in both political parties, and refusing to let intimidation become ordinary.” In other words, civil disobedience. Building, on the other hand, involves facilitating a replacement government. “Guarding the old system is not enough,” their strategy reads.
Declaring the government illegitimate and rebuilding a different government is a recurring theme within Return to Thrive discourse.
“I’m seeing a crisis of legitimacy with the November midterm election … what we really need to do is transform our system”, Reiff stated in a recording of a March 25, 2026, obtained by Pounds. In a 2025 22CI meeting attended by Reiff, Marcia Mundt, another former USAID employee, discusses applying the USAID framework for assessing what qualifies as an “illegitimate government” to America. “We were never allowed to analyze the United States in this way before because there is this big dividing line between foreign assistance work and domestic work, so I never got to use it for a U.S. context, but now that I no longer have a job, I can use it for whatever I want,” Mundt appears to state in another recording shared by Pounds.