The State Department began firing more than 1,350 US-based employees yesterday as the administration of President Donald Trump presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corps, a move critics say will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1,107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, come at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crisis on the world stage: Russia’s war in Ukraine, the almost two year-long Gaza conflict and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
“The department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities,” an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said. “Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found,” it added.
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3,000 including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the US.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his ‘America First’ agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America’s ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
“President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure,” Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia 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 said.
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