The US State Department on Friday is laying off more than 1,300 employees as part of a large-scale reorganization plan presented by the administration of US President Donald Trump earlier this year, AP reports, writes UNN.
Details
The State Department, as indicated, is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service employees working in the US, a senior State Department official said.
According to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press, all foreign service employees affected by these layoffs will be immediately placed on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will officially lose their positions. For most civil servants affected, the layoff period is 60 days, the memo states.
"In connection with the department's reorganization... the department is optimizing internal operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," the memo states. "Staff reductions were carefully considered, taking into account non-core functions, duplicating or redundant units, as well as units where centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities can provide significant efficiency gains."
While US President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and their Republican allies have praised these cuts as long overdue and necessary to make the State Department leaner, more agile, and more effective, they have been sharply criticized by current and former diplomats who argue that they will weaken US influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.
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The layoffs are part of a major overhaul of the State Department's operations.
The Trump administration seeks to reform American diplomacy and is actively working to reduce the size of the federal government, including mass layoffs as part of measures to eliminate entire agencies, such as the US Agency for International Development and the Department of Education.
USAID, a foreign aid agency that has existed for six decades, was incorporated into the State Department last week after the administration sharply cut foreign aid funding.
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A recent Supreme Court decision paved the way for the cuts to begin, while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue. On Thursday, the State Department officially informed employees that it would soon send out notices of cuts to some of them. The cuts are significant, but much smaller than many feared.
Rubio said officials made a "very conscious move to reorganize the State Department to make it more efficient and focused."
He said some of the cuts would affect vacant positions or those that would soon become vacant due to an employee's early retirement.
In late May, the State Department informed Congress of an updated reorganization plan, proposing program cuts beyond what Rubio had previously announced, and a 18% reduction in US personnel, even more than the 15% initially stated in April.
The restructuring was partly driven by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of USAID, which was an early goal of the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) of then-assistant Elon Musk.
The State Department plans to eliminate some units tasked with overseeing America's two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including a unit specializing in the resettlement of Afghan citizens who worked alongside the US military.
A letter the State Department sent to Congress noted that the reorganization would affect more than 300 bureaus and offices, and stated that it would eliminate units that it describes as performing vague or duplicative work. It said Rubio believes that "effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy."
The letter explicitly stated that the reorganization also aims to eliminate programs, particularly those related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion, which the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies.