CNN
—
Secretary of State Marco Rubio rolled out the first stage of a major plan to reorganize the US State Department on Tuesday with changes that will eliminate 132 domestic offices, cut around 700 positions in Washington, DC, and close offices focused on war crimes and global conflict, according to a senior State Department official and documents obtained by CNN.
The State Department argued the changes are necessary to maintain the department’s efficacy and relevance, with a senior State Department official calling the current department organization chart “bloated” and arguing it has had a “deleterious effect on foreign policy.”
The senior State Department official said the changes wouldn’t result in immediate layoffs but signaled that officials could lose their jobs. As part of the reorganization, 700 positions within the Washington headquarters are expected to be eliminated, the official said.
“Today is the day. Under @POTUS’ leadership and at my direction, we are reversing decades of bloat and bureaucracy at the State Department. These sweeping changes will empower our talented diplomats to Put America and Americans first,” Rubio posted on X.
The goal is for the department to be reorganized in a way that is “structurally in line” with what the administration wants to accomplish, the official said. The changes would bring the total number of offices at the department from 734 to 602.
The long-anticipated reorganization proposal focuses on the domestic offices to start, not overseas embassies and consulates. Rumors about the proposed changes had stirred fear and anxiety among the State Department workforce.
The proposed reorganization does not go into granular detail. Rather, it tasks undersecretaries to develop plans for leadership to implement the changes by July 1, according to a memo that Deputy Secretary of State Christoper Landau sent out to the workforce on Tuesday.
The proposal has been developed since the early days of the Trump administration, and it does not mark the only changes that the department is expected to make particularly when it comes to overseas posts.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
