US State Department unveils massive overhaul of agency with reduction of staff and bureaus
By FARNOUSH AMIRI and MATTHEW LEE Secretary of State Marco Rubio unveiled a massive overhaul of the State Department on Tuesday with plans to reduce staff in the U S by while closing and consolidating more than bureaus worldwide as part of the Trump administration s America First mandate Related Articles Hegseth pulled airstrike info from secure military channel for Signal posts NBC News reports Colorado fights Trump administration bid to help imprisoned loyalist Tina Peters Harvard sues Trump administration to stop the freeze of more than billion in grants False rumor of DOGE visit to Boulder s federal labs sparks protest Hegseth had a second Signal chat where he shared details of Yemen strike New York Times reports The reorganization plan communicated by Rubio on social media and detailed in documents obtained by The Associated Press is the latest effort by the White House to reimagine U S foreign agenda and scale back the size of the federal administration We cannot win the battle for the st century with bloated bureaucracy that stifles innovation and misallocates scarce tools Rubio declared in a department-wide email obtained by The AP That is why under the leadership of President Trump and at my direction I am announcing a reorganization of the Department so it may meet the immense challenges of the st Century and put America First Plans include consolidating bureaus and offices to as well as transitioning offices to another location within the Department to increase efficiency according to a fact sheet obtained by The AP There will also be a reimagined office focused on foreign and humanitarian affairs to coordinate the remaining foreign assistance programs left at State after the latest dismantling of the U S Agency for International Enhancement Specific of the bureaus that are expected to be cut include the Office of Global Women s Issues and the department s diversity and inclusion efforts which have been cut government-wide since President Donald Trump took office in January State is also expected to eliminate particular offices previously under the Undersecretary of State for Civilian Guard Democracy and Human Rights but the fact sheet says that much of their work will continue in other sections of the department It is unclear if the reorganization would be implemented through an executive order or other means Draft reorganization proposals shared within the department in contemporary weeks outlined an even more drastic shift of priorities than the one revealed Tuesday The official plans came a week after The AP learned that the White House s Office of Management and Budget proposed gutting the State Department s budget by almost and eliminating funding for the United Nations and NATO headquarters The budget proposal was still in a highly preliminary phase and not expected to pass muster with Congress Ahead of the changes at the State Department the Trump administration has been slashing jobs and funding across agencies from the Schooling Department to Soundness and Human Services On foreign agenda beyond the destruction of USAID State has also moved to defund so-called other soft power institutions like media outlets delivering objective news often to authoritarian countries including the Voice of America the Middle East Broadcasting Networks Radio Free Asia and Radio TV Marti which broadcasts to Cuba Amiri broadcasted from the United Nations
