According to the Financial Times, as part of a major reorganization, the US State Department plans to lay off hundreds of local employees in the coming weeks. People familiar with the matter revealed that the reorganization may cause 1,600 local diplomats and civil servants to lose their jobs.
The report said the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), a union for U.S. government employees, “firmly and unequivocally opposed” the plans. The association said that before the plans were introduced, the State Department’s staffing “was already stretched thin and under-resourced to effectively conduct U.S. diplomacy.”
“Inevitably, many of those fired will be experienced diplomats with hard-earned language and regional knowledge,” said Jeffrey Piatt, a former assistant secretary of state who served as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and Greece.
The report pointed out that the layoffs are part of a large-scale reorganization plan of the US State Department, which was announced by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in April this year. At that time, the US foreign policy system was in chaos due to the dissolution of the main foreign aid agency, the Agency for International Development (USAID). Rubio said that the reorganization was to streamline the department, which had “expanded in size and cost” in the past 15 years, and make it more in line with President Trump’s “America First” governance platform.
U.S. officials said Rubio’s plan would cut about 5% of U.S. State Department employees and close 132 offices, some of which focus on human rights and democracy promotion. Affected employees are expected to receive notice before July 1, but specific details have not yet been announced.
