On July 11, the State Department began laying off more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees as the Trump administration moves forward with a significant restructuring of its diplomatic personnel.
The layoffs, which affect 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, come at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia’s war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
“The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found,” it added.
It’s expected that the total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3,000, including voluntary departures, according to a senior State Department official. Before the cuts, the State Department employed around 18,000 people in the United States.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that Trump has sought to ensure U.S. foreign policy is aligned with his “America First” agenda.
Success
You are now signed up for our newsletter
Success
Check your email to complete sign up
Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America’s ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
“President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure,” Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
“This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis,” Kaine said.
READ MORE:
- US State Secretary Rubio Meets With Officials From Japan, Korea at ASEAN Summit
- Supreme Court Clears Legal Path for Trump’s Executive Orders
Revamping foreign service
In February, Trump ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure that the Republican president’s foreign policy is “faithfully” implemented.
The shake-up is part of an unprecedented push by Trump to keep campaign promises and shrink the federal bureaucracy while cutting what he says is wasteful spending of taxpayer money.
Rubio announced the plans for the State Department shake-up in April, saying the Department in its current form was “bloated, bureaucratic” and was not able to perform its mission “in this new era of great power competition.”
He envisioned a structure that he said would give back the power to regional bureaus and embassies and get rid of programs and offices that do not align with America’s core interests.
That vision would see the elimination of the role of top official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights and the closure of some offices that monitored war crimes and conflicts around the world.
The reorganization had been expected to be largely concluded by July 1 but did not proceed as planned amid ongoing litigation, as the State Department waited for the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on the Trump administration’s bid to halt a judicial order blocking mass job cuts.
On Tuesday, the court cleared the way for the Trump administration to pursue the job cuts and the sweeping downsizing of numerous agencies. Since then, The White House Counsel’s Office and the Office of Personnel Management have been coordinating with federal agencies to ensure their plans comply with the law.
Reuters contributed to this report
