Trump administration proposes major shake-up of US State Department
FILE PHOTO: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on upon his arrival at the Quai d'Orsay, France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before a bilateral meeting with his French counterpart in Paris, France April 17, 2025. JULIEN DE ROSA/Pool via REUTERS/File photo
WASHINGTON: The Trump administration is proposing a major overhaul of the US State Department that would eliminate more than 100 offices including some working on war crimes and rights advocacy to ensure the agency is in line with President Donald Trump's "America First" priorities.
The plan, which Congress has been notified about, would eliminate 132 of the department's 734 bureaus and offices, an internal State Department memo seen by Reuters said. Undersecretaries will submit plans to reduce staff by 15 per cent, the document added.
It was not immediately clear how many people would be laid off as a result of the revamp, but a report in online publication the Free Press, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X, said an additional 700 positions would be eliminated in the shuttered offices.
An internal working group will lead implementation of the reorganization and develop detailed plans for each part of the department by Jul 1, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote to staff in an internal email seen by Reuters.
The shake-up comes as part of an unprecedented push by Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, saying US taxpayer money is misspent. The effort has led to the firing of thousands of government employees.
"In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition," Rubio said in a statement.
The plan, which Congress has been notified about, would eliminate 132 of the department's 734 bureaus and offices, an internal State Department memo seen by Reuters said. Undersecretaries will submit plans to reduce staff by 15 per cent, the document added.
It was not immediately clear how many people would be laid off as a result of the revamp, but a report in online publication the Free Press, which Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on X, said an additional 700 positions would be eliminated in the shuttered offices.
An internal working group will lead implementation of the reorganization and develop detailed plans for each part of the department by Jul 1, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau wrote to staff in an internal email seen by Reuters.
The shake-up comes as part of an unprecedented push by Trump and his billionaire adviser Elon Musk to shrink the federal government, saying US taxpayer money is misspent. The effort has led to the firing of thousands of government employees.
"In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition," Rubio said in a statement.
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Both Rubio and officials said the bloated structure of the State Department made it impossible to quickly and efficiently make decisions, and that the new plan would attempt to empower regional bureaus to increase functionality and remove offices and programs not aligned with America’s core national interests.
Trump issued a separate executive order in February directing Rubio to revamp the US Foreign Service and how the State Department functions to ensure that the US diplomatic corps faithfully implements his agenda.
The proposed reorganisation appears to be less dramatic than many in the department had feared, and a memo that had circulated among State Department employees over the weekend that was proposing to eliminate nearly all of the Department's African affairs bureau among other drastic changes.
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she would be scrutinising the plan and wanted Rubio to testify to the panel about it. “When America retreats - as it has under President Trump - China and Russia fill the void,” she said in a statement.
Trump issued a separate executive order in February directing Rubio to revamp the US Foreign Service and how the State Department functions to ensure that the US diplomatic corps faithfully implements his agenda.
The proposed reorganisation appears to be less dramatic than many in the department had feared, and a memo that had circulated among State Department employees over the weekend that was proposing to eliminate nearly all of the Department's African affairs bureau among other drastic changes.
US Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said she would be scrutinising the plan and wanted Rubio to testify to the panel about it. “When America retreats - as it has under President Trump - China and Russia fill the void,” she said in a statement.
"IDEOLOGICAL CAPTURE"
The biggest changes proposed were the elimination of the Undersecretary of Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, a part of the Department that Rubio accused of diverting from US priorities as he took aim at what he called “ideological capture” at the agency.
That branch, he wrote in a Substack piece, "provided a fertile environment for activists to redefine “human rights” and “democracy” and to pursue their projects at the taxpayer expense, even when they were in direct conflict with the goals of the Secretary, the President, and the American people."
He accused officials working on democracy, human rights and labour of waging vendettas against what he called "anti-woke” leaders in Poland, Hungary and Brazil and said the migration bureau had helped spur mass migration.
Numerous US Agency for International Development programs for years had supported work bolstering independent media and civil society in increasingly autocratic countries. It was not immediately known if that was still a priority.
While some bureaus under the abolished branch were being folded into other parts of the Department, a key office monitoring war crimes and atrocities globally - Office of Global Criminal Justice - had disappeared from the new organisational chart provided.
Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the proposal was a road map and things could still change. The closure of a bureau focused on a specific issue does not mean work on that issue would be completely stopped, she said, without detailing how those issues would remain department priorities.
Rubio last week also closed a State Department office set up to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of censoring conservative views.
While some bureaus under the abolished branch were being folded into other parts of the Department, a key office monitoring war crimes and atrocities globally - Office of Global Criminal Justice - had disappeared from the new organisational chart provided.
Spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters the proposal was a road map and things could still change. The closure of a bureau focused on a specific issue does not mean work on that issue would be completely stopped, she said, without detailing how those issues would remain department priorities.
Rubio last week also closed a State Department office set up to counter foreign disinformation, accusing it of censoring conservative views.
US officials in March said the department was also preparing to shut down nearly one dozen consulates.
The plan announced on Tuesday (Apr 22) focused on changes in the department's Washington headquarters, a senior State Department official told reporters when asked about the number of missions that may be shuttered overseas as part of the shake-up.
"This is a purely domestic plan. This does not have anything to do with any foreign missions. That's not to say that there won't be subsequent decisions on foreign missions," the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
Officials at the undersecretary of state level have 30 days to assess how many jobs will be eliminated by the proposed reorganization, a senior State Department official said.
The plan announced on Tuesday (Apr 22) focused on changes in the department's Washington headquarters, a senior State Department official told reporters when asked about the number of missions that may be shuttered overseas as part of the shake-up.
"This is a purely domestic plan. This does not have anything to do with any foreign missions. That's not to say that there won't be subsequent decisions on foreign missions," the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said.
Officials at the undersecretary of state level have 30 days to assess how many jobs will be eliminated by the proposed reorganization, a senior State Department official said.
Source: Reuters/fs
