Amid Trump administration reshuffle, State Department begins laying off more than 1,350 US employees

WASHINGTON: As President Donald Trump’s administration continues to implement an unprecedented reform of its diplomatic corps, the State Department started firing more than 1,350 U.S.-based employees on Friday. Critics claim this will make it more difficult for the United States to protect and advance its interests abroad.

At a time when Washington is dealing with several global crises, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the nearly two-year-old conflict in Gaza, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran, the layoffs, which impact 1,107 civil service employees and 246 foreign service officers stationed in the United States, are taking place.

“The department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” the employees were informed in an internal State Department correspondence. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found,” it said.

According to the notice and a senior State Department official, of the 18,000 personnel located in the United States, the overall decrease in the staff, including the voluntary departures, will be close to 3,000.

Trump has attempted to restructure U.S. foreign policy to better align it with his “America First” agenda, and this action is the first step in that process. The dismissal of foreign service personnel, according to critics and former diplomats, jeopardizes America’s capacity to fend against the increasing aggressiveness of enemies like China and Russia.

“President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure,” Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, 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 stated.

A spontaneous “clap-out” for their sacked colleagues was held in the foyer of the State Department’s headquarters in Washington, where dozens of workers gathered. As they packed their things in boxes, embraced, and said goodbye to friends and coworkers, many of them were sobbing.

Dozens of people were queued up outside, still cheering and clapping for them, some of them waving banners that said, “Thank you, America’s diplomats.” Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, was present during the protest.

Employees who are being laid off may give in their badges, computers, phones, and other agency property at a number of offices located inside the facility.

Posters with the words “Transition Day Out Processing” were used to identify the offices. There was a counter marked “Outprocessing Service Center” with a box of tissues and little water bottles next to it. There were cardboard crates inside one office.

According to a five-page “separation checklist” that Reuters obtained from staff who were let go on Friday, they would no longer have access to the building or their emails after 5 p.m. EDT.

As part of the reform, several employees of a State Department agency that managed the resettlement of Afghans in the United States and served for the American government throughout the 20-year conflict have also been let go.

“WRONG SIGNAL”

In order to guarantee that the Republican president’s foreign policy is “faithfully” carried out, Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to restructure the foreign service in February. Additionally, he has made repeated promises to “clean out the deep state” by dismissing personnel he believes to be disloyal.

The reorganization is a part of Trump’s historic drive to reduce the size of the federal government and cut down on what he claims is unnecessary expenditure of public funds. The U.S. Agency for International Aid, Washington’s leading aid organization that disbursed billions of dollars in help globally, was dissolved and merged into the State Department under his presidency.

In April, Rubio revealed intentions to restructure the State Department, claiming that the agency was “bloated, bureaucratic,” and incapable of carrying out its role “in this new era of great power competition.”
He envisioned a system that, according to him, would eliminate offices and programs that are at odds with America’s fundamental interests and return authority to regional bureaus and embassies.

According to that vision, several offices that kept an eye on war crimes and wars worldwide would be shut down, and the position of senior official for civilian security, democracy, and human rights would be abolished.

As the State Department awaited the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on the Trump administration’s attempt to overturn a court injunction that was preventing widespread layoffs, the restructuring, which was supposed to be mostly finished by July 1, did not progress as planned due to continuing litigation.

The court on Tuesday gave the Trump administration permission to proceed with the widespread agency reduction and job cutbacks. Since then, the Office of Personnel Management and the White House Counsel’s Office have been working with federal agencies to make sure their plans are in compliance with the law.