From The Hill newspaper,
Secretary of State Marco Rubio began mass firings at the State Department on Monday, part of a reorganization plan to form a leaner foreign policy force that, he argues, will allow the United States to respond more nimbly by removing layers of bureaucracy.
The department sent reduction in force (RIF) notices Friday morning to about 1,100 civil servants and 250 foreign service officers stationed in the U.S., with plans to cut its workforce further.
The Hill continues,
The move prompted heavy pushback from Democrats and former diplomats who contended that by downsizing its diplomatic footprint the administration is putting national security at risk.
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde describing the death scene of Little Nell in Dickens’ The Old Curiosity Shop, it would take a heart of stone not to laugh.
Byron York points out on Twitter (X) that the Dept.’s bureaucratic bloat has become extra heavy in recent years,
Looking at State Department documents, it appears the department went from 57,340 total employees in 2007 to 72,895 in 2015 to 80,214 in 2024. So it grew by nearly 23,000 employees before the ‘devastating’ cut of 1,300.
From ABC News,
Officials say more areas of the department were impacted than originally anticipated. ABC News was told that the workforce reduction includes multiple employees within the population, refugees and migration wings of the State Department and within the diplomatic security bureau.
There were also many cuts from the areas of the department that were anticipated, including its energy resources and conflict and stabilization operations wings, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons and the Office of Global Women’s Issues. Other impacted areas include Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, and the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, officials said.
They shan’t be missed.
