Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced changes to the department to fit with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Also, no, the plan does not include closing embassies and consulates.
In its current form, the Department is bloated, bureaucratic, and unable to perform its essential diplomatic mission in this new era of great power competition. Over the past 15 years, the Department’s footprint has had unprecedented growth and costs have soared. But far from seeing a return on investment, taxpayers have seen less effective and efficient diplomacy. The sprawling bureaucracy created a system more beholden to radical political ideology than advancing America’s core national interests.That is why today I am announcing a comprehensive reorganization plan that will bring the Department into the 21st Century. This approach will empower the Department from the ground up, from the bureaus to the embassies. Region-specific functions will be consolidated to increase functionality, redundant offices will be removed, and non-statutory programs that are misaligned with America’s core national interests will cease to exist.
The Free Press was the first publication to publish the details.
The department wants to reduce the number of offices from 734 to 602.
The department’s under secretaries have 15 days to show Rubio their plans “to reduce their U.S. personnel in individual departments by 15 percent.”
“Under President Trump’s leadership, we have a commander in chief committed to putting America and Americans first,” added Rubio. “As his Secretary of State, I am confident a reformed State Department will meet the moment and help make our country great once again.”
Once again, I cannot stress that we should take anything from “sources” from the Trump administration because The New York Times reported that the department would close almost every African operation.
(You know, like the supposed Yemen attack Signal chats Hegseth had with his wife and others.)
None of the changes include those changes in the plans, according to The Free Press:
According to the planning documents, the State Department will eliminate 132 of its offices along with 700 positions within them. These offices are wings of the agency in Washington, D.C., that focus on a variety of foreign policy issues and are viewed by the Trump administration as no longer necessary.The 700 positions are for civil service and foreign service employees, rather than political appointees. The elimination of the roles is in addition to the State Department’s ask for under secretaries to reduce their personnel by 15 percent.The State Department is also transferring 137 offices to other parts of the agency to consolidate programs.
I’m seeing people on X claiming the State Department plans on closing offices committed to war crimes and human trafficking.
But from what I’m reading, the department will consolidate these offices into existing ones, restructure them, or rename them.
For example, we have the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights:
One notable part of the restructuring will involve an office called the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights, also known as the agency’s “J programs.” It “leads global diplomatic efforts to advance universal human rights, democratic renewal, and human-centered security,” according to its website.The J office, the documents show, is being overhauled and renamed as the Under Secretary for Foreign Assistance and Human Rights. There, officials plan to abolish its Office of Global Criminal Justice, which was formed in 1997 to advise on U.S. policy related to genocide, war crimes, and other grave human rights violations.In the past, the Office of Global Criminal Justice has worked with the Department of Justice on investigating atrocities committed in Syria, and has aided Balkan countries in setting up war crime tribunals, according to a former State Department official. This March, the office met with a group of Syrians to discuss human rights issues.Some functions of that criminal justice office will be absorbed by the State Department’s Office of the Legal Adviser, according to the documents.
The Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, or CSO, might face elimination.
The department formed the CSO in 2011 “help anticipate, prevent, and respond to conflicts that may threaten U.S. national security.”
But one official told The Free Press, “Nobody is really sure what they do.”
“When I ask them, they seem to not really be sure what they’re supposed to be doing,” added the official. “It’s an office that was created several years ago to look at Afghanistan [issues] and to avoid conflict areas. But we already have other offices within the department that do that.”
The Trump administration also focused on the Bureau of Counterterrorism’s “Countering Violent Extremism” (CVE).
It sounds like an important office. The administration claims “that the CVE programs at that bureau duplicate others in the agency, including programs at a bureau focused on international narcotics.”
People can stop freaking out about the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID):
The second senior State Department official told The Free Press that foreign assistance functions formerly run by USAID will now be taken on by regional State Department bureaus or folded into other existing offices. For example, USAID’s disaster assistance functions will be moved to the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration and its health programs to the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, the official said.“On July 1, USAID ceases to exist,” that official added. The State Department has said it will complete its USAID reorganization by that date, which is expected to draw legal challenges since Congress established USAID as an independent agency.
So, again, you can expect the left to freak out and the media to twist everything while burying the lede: The department is consolidating offices and deleting offices that duplicate other offices.
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