State Dept. to fire 1,300-plus employees in dramatic reorganization plan

The State Department is laying off more than 1,300 employees Friday, a move that critics say will make us less safe abroad and hurt America’s leadership across the globe. 

The Trump administration has pushed to reshape American diplomacy and worked aggressively to shrink the size of the federal government, including mass dismissals as part of moves to dismantle whole departments like the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Education Department.

State Dept. layoffs

By the numbers:

The department is sending layoff notices to 1,107 civil servants and 246 foreign service officers with domestic assignments in the United States, a senior State Department official told The Associated Press. 

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Foreign service officers affected will be placed immediately on administrative leave for 120 days, after which they will formally lose their jobs, according to an internal notice obtained by The Associated Press. For most affected civil servants, the separation period is 60 days, it said.

"In connection with the departmental reorganization … the department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," the notice says. "Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found from centralization or consolidation of functions and responsibilities."

Reshaping American diplomacy

The backstory:

USAID, the six-decade-old foreign assistance agency, was absorbed into the State Department last week after the administration dramatically slashed foreign aid funding.

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A recent ruling by the Supreme Court cleared the way for the layoffs to start, while lawsuits challenging the legality of the cuts continue to play out. The department had formally advised staffers on Thursday that it would be sending layoff notices to some of them soon. The job cuts are large but considerably less than many had feared.

What they're saying:

Rubio said officials took "a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused."

"It’s not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don’t need those positions," he told reporters Thursday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he’s attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum. "Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people."

He said some of the cuts will be unfilled positions or those that are about to be vacant because an employee took an early retirement.

Michael Rigas, the department’s deputy secretary for management and resources, said in a notice Thursday that staffers would be informed "soon" if they were being laid off.

"First and foremost, we want to thank them for their dedication and service to the United States," he said.

"Once notifications have taken place, the Department will enter the final stage of its reorganization and focus its attention on delivering results-driven diplomacy," Rigas added.

What do critics say? 

The other side:

Current and former diplomats widely criticized by current and former diplomats who say they will weaken U.S. influence and its ability to counter existing and emerging threats abroad.

The American Academy of Diplomacy, an association that includes hundreds of former senior diplomats, said the State Department layoffs "will seriously undermine the ability of our government to understand, explain, and respond to a complex and increasingly contested world."

"At a time when the United States faces unprecedented challenges from strategic competitors and adversaries, ongoing conflicts in Central Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, and emerging security threats, the decision to gut the Department of State’s institutional knowledge and operational capacity is an act of vandalism," the organization said in a statement last week before the cuts were announced.

It added that Rubio’s explanations for the cuts are "disingenuous, pernicious, and false."

The American Foreign Service Association, the union that represents diplomats, urged the State Department last month to hold off on job cuts.

Notices for a reduction in force, which would not only lay off employees but eliminate positions altogether, "should be a last resort," association President Tom Yazdgerdi said. "Disrupting the Foreign Service like this puts national interests at risk — and Americans everywhere will bear the consequences."

What is being cut at the State Department?  

Dig deeper:

In late May, the State Department notified Congress of an updated reorganization plan, proposing cuts to programs beyond what had been revealed earlier by Rubio and an 18% reduction of staff in the U.S., even higher than the 15% initially floated in April.

The restructuring has been driven in part by the need to find a new home for the remaining functions of USAID, which was an early target of the Trump administration and then-aide Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

The State Department is planning to eliminate some divisions tasked with oversight of America’s two-decade involvement in Afghanistan, including an office focused on resettling Afghan nationals who worked alongside the U.S. military.

A letter that the department had sent to Congress noted that the reorganization will affect more than 300 bureaus and offices, saying it is eliminating divisions it describes as doing unclear or overlapping work. It says Rubio believes "effective modern diplomacy requires streamlining this bloated bureaucracy."

That letter was clear that the reorganization also is intended to eliminate programs — particularly those related to refugees and immigration, as well as human rights and democracy promotion — that the Trump administration believes have become ideologically driven in a way that is incompatible with its priorities and policies.

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