The State Department is planning a sweeping reorganization of its bureaus and U.S. staff, with around 3,400 jobs eliminated and almost half of its domestic offices closed or consolidated in the coming months, the department told lawmakers Thursday, according to documents obtained by CBS News.
The plans were previewed by senior State Department officials last month and are part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to slash the size of the federal government. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the department — which employs tens of thousands of domestic staff in addition to foreign service workers at embassies and consulates — “bloated” and “bureaucratic.”
The department aims to reduce its domestic workforce by up to 3,448 personnel, it said in a more than 130-page notification submitted to Congress — affecting around 18% of its existing staff. That includes 1,873 workers who could be cut through layoffs, or reductions-in-force, and another 1,575 who have indicated they would leave voluntarily.
The cuts do not affect U.S.-based staff responsible for issuing passports and visas, or diplomatic security agents, the plan to Congress, marked “sensitive but unclassified,” said.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a briefing with reporters on Thursday that the changes were the result of “thoughtful and deliberative” work by senior department leadership that took into account feedback from long-serving employees.
“The reorganization plan will result in a more agile Department, better equipped to promote America’s interests and keep Americans safe across the world,” Rubio said in a statement.
The reorganization should be “largely concluded by July 1,” with staff notified before then if their position is eliminated, the State Department told its workforce in a frequently-asked-questions document also obtained by CBS News. Staff were told to make sure their personal contact information was up to date.
Meanwhile, around 45% of offices within the State Department could be merged or eliminated altogether, according to an executive summary sent internally to staffers Thursday and obtained by CBS News.
Some departments focused on democracy and human rights will be scrapped or consolidated, with the report to Congress describing some of those offices as “prone to ideological capture and radicalism.” A new senior job will be added focused on “Democracy & Western Values,” with offices focused on “civil liberties” and “free market principles.”
Offices that handle migration issues will be “substantially reorganized” to focus on “supporting the Administration’s efforts to return illegal aliens to their country of origin or legal status,” the congressional notification says.
Some of the offices within the State Department’s regional bureaus will also be merged. For example, Russia Affairs and the Caucasus will merge into one office within the Europe bureau, Haiti and Caribbean Affairs will become one within the Western Hemisphere bureau, and Iran and Iraq Affairs will merge within the Near East Asia bureau.
The plan also eliminates a program that was tasked with helping relocate Afghans who assisted U.S. military personnel during the war in Afghanistan, a move that drew sharp criticism from veterans’ groups.
“This is not administrative streamlining,” said Shawn VanDiver, the founder of nonprofit AfghanEvac, in a statement. “This is a betrayal.”
In an internal frequently-asked-questions document obtained by CBS News, the State Department told employees many of the offices that are slated to be shut down will still see their core responsibilities moved elsewhere.
“Just because your office does not appear on the new organizational chart does not necessarily mean you will be receiving a [reduction-in-force] notification,” the FAQ also read.
The administration has sought to shutter most of the U.S. Agency for International Development, cancelling many of its programs and folding most of its remaining foreign aid duties into the State Department. That plan has drawn pushback from Democrats who argue the moves were not authorized by Congress.
“Taken together, these moves significantly undercut America’s role in the world and open the door for adversaries to threaten our safety and prosperity,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, respectively. “We welcome reforms where needed, but they must be done with a scalpel, not a chain saw.”
